A different approach
by Ximily
Summary: What if Astrid found the Night Fury first? Contains spoilers of the entire movie; I suggest you watch the movie first. Not just because of the spoilers, this movie kicks ass! XD I DO NOT OWN HTTYD AND IT'S CHARACTERS .:Astrid Toothless Friendship:.
1. The Downed Dragon

Imagine this:  
After yet another night attack, Astrid heads into the woods for her usual morning training session. While walking, she flings her axe at a tree in the distance and then walks over there to pick it up and fling it again. In the meantime she whistles a relaxed tune. While molesting the forest, she thinks back at the moment only an hour ago. That lunatic Hiccup had embarrassed himself in front of the village again, causing another accident and after that still claiming to have shot down a Night Fury, whilst all the other villagers strangely enough weren't paying attention. Astrid laughs at the stupidity; how could he possibly expect any sane person to believe him?

Then, she hears a growl. Quickly running towards her latest wooden victim, she tugs the axe free from the bark and takes a defensive position. "Still hungry, dragons?" She mumbles, even though her heart beats wildly. "Well, I'm no good for a desert. I've got an after-taste that you might find un-axe-eptable." There is another growl, but this one sounds more woeful. Having pinpointed the location where the moans are coming from, Astrid heads forward. The first disturbing sign she spots is a broken down tree, with a deep trail in the soil heading over a hill-top. _The groaning monster has to be on the other side of it_, the Viking girl thinks. Slowly, carefully, she peers over the edge.

There it lies; a black terrifying creature, probably three or four sheep in length, his legs and wings entangled in ropes. It is snaking around, trying to free itself from the tight grip, but that's futile. Knowing that the dragon could not break loose or attack, Astrid approaches it to get a better look. _"Wauw, amazing_," she gasps, walking towards the dragon. It looks up at her and growls softly. But Astrid isn't scared, although she stays well away from it's head. _Who would leave a dragon alive after capturing it?_ She wonders. _What kind of dragon is this anyway? A Timberjack is bigger… A Gronckle is sturdier and has smaller wings… And monstrous nightmares only have two legs, walking with their wing claws._

Then, with a gasp, she realizes what it probably is. "A Night Fury?" She asks aloud, as if the dragon could answer. The beast sees the axe the girl is holding, and knows that she's going to kill him. Admitting his defeat, he lays his head on the ground, sighing deeply. Astrid scans the dragon again. "It has to be a Night Fury," she says to herself. "Not a single dragon in the Manual looks like this." At the same moment, she realises the dragon wasn't left behind here. He had crash-landed here. It has been shot out of the sky. And finally realising that, Astrid remembers the unbelievable story of the village's black sheep. "Hiccup did this?" She wonders. "I can't believe it. He actually shot one down? And a Night Fury for that matter. He's a geni-" She clasps a hand over her mouth just before the word could entirely escape. There was no way she would ever admit something as embarrassing as Hiccup being a better dragon killer than she was.

_But, then what?_, she thinks silently. _What are my options?_ She could tell the villagers, admitting Hiccup's great heroic action. "No way." She shakes her head, dumping the hideous idea. She could leave the dragon be, and continue her training. But if Hiccup was crafty enough to make a friggin' Night Fury fall from the sky, he could probably locate the beast's landing site as well. And when that happens, he would still be the greatest Viking of all._ So that's no option either_, she thinks, her back crawling at the idea of Hiccup being her superior. Then there is another option; move it. Astrid looks at the dragon again. It quickly shuts his eye, as he had been watching her, waiting for her to strike the finishing blow.

_But, there's no way I can move him on my own, _she thinks sighing. _Then I would have to release it, so it can- _"Argh, what am I thinking!" she yells, startling the dragon, which growled annoyed. "You're a dragon, the toughest one to catch for that matter! I could just kill you, claim you as my kill, and become an even bigger protégé than I already am! What do you think of that?" The dragon gazes straight at the girl, moaning frightened. Only now Astrid notices she had been talking to the dark creature, as if it is a rational being. All of a sudden, killing the poor thing seems as a terrible thing to do. But still, if she would release him, he would simply attack the village again and again. "I can't release you, right?" Astrid mumbles. "There is no way that you would promise me to stop attacking us if I released you." The Night Fury raises his head, staring at the girl. He looks almost hopeful.

Then Astrid hears a terribly familiar voice. "…or a mug. No, not me, I manage to lose an entire dragon! Au!" The dragon looks up at the hill, grumbling fearfully. Astrid feels pitiful, and without realising what she is doing, she leans towards the dragon's head, touching it's flank gently. "Listen, dragon," she whispers to the beast, "that guy over there is absolutely going to kill you. He's the one that shot you down. Now, I'm going to cut you lose, and you fly off, alright? Don't make a sound." Astrid pulls the ropes towards her axe's blade, cutting them one by one. She quickly grabs the pieces together and hurls them into a bush. The Night Fury glares at her for one more second, before it spreads his wings and flies away. Astrid sighs relieved, but then sees how the dragon struggles to gain height, and even crashes into a heap of boulders. She hears Hiccup gasping behind her. Did he see it?

"G- Get back here, you coward!" she yells after the beast, which is still struggling to fly away. She gasps a few times, making it seem as if she just had a fierce battle. Turning around, she now faces the scrawny boy. _  
_"Wha- What was that? Are you OK? What just happened?" he asks completely flabbergasted.  
"Ow, nothing, just-" Astrid tries to calm down and make up a lie. "Just a Nadder that was looking for breakfast. What are you doing out here? Aren't you supposed to be grounded?" Hiccup blinks a few times. It takes him a while longer to change the subject from Astrids fight to this confrontation. _  
_"Er, I uhm," he stammers, "I was looking for, eh-" Astrid grabs him at his jacket, sighing irritated by the fact that this was the only way to make him forget about this. _  
_"If I get attacked like that, it's even worse for you to be out here," she says. "Your father won't like to hear that you left your house."

"What? No, no, no, no, please don't tell him," Hiccup begs, grasping Astrid's hand. _"_He's mad at me already. This time it's going to be more than just a scold. Just let me go, I'm only looking for- Aaaaaaaw, why would you do that?!" He moaned as Astrid twists his arm._  
_"That's for touching me_,_" she says devilishly, hitting him again with the heft of her axe. "Now get a move on. I can't train with you running free." Dragging the half-unconscious wimp along, she returns to the village. The Viking girl looks over her shoulder a bit uncertain. Never is she going to understand why she did what she just did; by not only not killing, but also granting a dragon freedom, she has broken two of the most important Viking rules. _I hope it was a good idea to release you, dragon,_ she speaks in mind.

**A/N: And there is more to come, because the movie doesn't end at this point! :D I'm planning on writing a possible outcome of all the events, following Astrid while **_**she **_**tries to keep Toothless a secret and how she handles things. Reviews are greatly appreciated. =3 Thanks for reading!  
EDIT: Thanks for the reviews, TheCrazyArtist and Sithking Zero. I've changed it in this chapter and will follow this style in the upcoming chapters as well. ****Please tell me if anything else needs improving! =D**


	2. Imprisoned

"Welcome to dragon training!" Gobber exclaims enthusiastically. Ever since the happening with the Night Fury, Astrid has been hesitating. She is no longer so very decisive about killing dragons. She hates that, and hopes to overcome the hesitation by joining the dragon training. Would she be able to kill a dragon after experiencing one as dangerous and yet as frightened as that Night Fury? As she and the other kids enter the kill ring, she holds her head high.

"No turning back," she mumbles and she walks forward. All the kids look around and inspect the ring.  
"I hope I get some serious burns!" Tuffnut says excitedly.  
"I'm hoping for some mauling, like, on my shoulder or lower back," his twin sister Ruffnut adds.  
"Yeah. It's only fun if you get a scar out of it," Astrid says sarcastically, trying to act cool-heartedly. Then, that irritable voice rings through her ears again.  
"Yeah, no kidding, right?" Hiccup says, obviously just acting reassured as he has shaky knees. "Pain, heh, heh. Love it."

"Ow, great. Who let him in?" Tuffnut says annoyed. _Just my thought_, Astrid thinks. Gobber starts explaining the concept of the dragon training. But Astrid already knows what's going to happen. She is the best of all of them, so she will probably win and be forced to kill a dragon in front of the entire village.  
"Hiccup already killed a Night Fury, so does that disqualify him? Or…" Snotlout asks joking. The others laugh, but Astrid shakes her head. _They have no idea…_ she thought.  
"Yeah, go on and laugh," Hiccup says not very securely. "I- I really am going to kill a dragon! Someday…"Astrid sighs and thinks about the Night Fury. She has saved the dragon from Hiccup, not knowing why she would even bother, or why she didn't kill it herself. So what if Hiccup gets credit for what he achieved? Isn't that just the point? In her mind, Astrid is now able to fully admit that she could never catch a Night Fury, while Hiccup achieved it without even knowing. But under no circumstances is she going to let _anyone_ know it, especially not Hiccup. That is still too painful.

Too late she realises that Gobber releases a Gronckle. Together with the others she runs for the angry dragon. "Quick! What's the first thing your going to need?"Gobber asks. Several suggestions were made, but as usual, Astrid knows the right answer: "A shield!" After the answer is approved by Gobber, the teens all rush towards where the shields are laying. Astrid desperately tries to keep her thoughts on the Gronckle in stead of the Night Fury. She looked around; Hiccup has trouble lifting his shield from the ground (_weakling, _Astrid thinks), Fishlegs is fleeing for the Gronckle (_coward,_ Astrid thinks) and Ruffnut and Tuffnut are squabbling about one shield they both want (_idiots,_ Astrid thinks).

She now stands right next to Snotlout, who is saying something, probably trying to hit on her. She cannot concentrate with him babbling about, but she's good enough to notice the Gronckle heading towards them. She makes a tumble-roll sideways as Snotlout is blasted by the dragon. Of all the places to be, Astrid ends up standing next to Hiccup.  
"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh?" Hiccup says.  
Still focusing on the dragon, Astrid says: "Nope, just you," and runs away again. Now the Gronckle was after the shrimpy boy. A blast of fire makes Hiccup drop his shield and he chases it as it rolls away, while the dragon chases him. With his back against the wall, Hiccup could look straight into the dragon's gaping mouth, which was getting ready to shoot again. But Gobber pulls it's jaw just in time, the blast missing Hiccup. Astrid sighs relieved. Gobber locks up the dragon and sums up the lesson of the day. "Remember," he says, "a dragon will always, ALWAYS go for the kill."

This first dragon lesson has set Astrid's mind on double shifts. When Hiccup was attacked, she was startled. Almost as if she worried about him. She moves her hands through her hair and curses those thoughts. _There is no way that I would be disappointed with the idea of Hiccup being gone. That can't be!_ she thinks. _If only I hadn't found that stupid Night Fury, then I'd still look down on him…_ The Night Fury is another matter of thought. Gobber had said that a dragon would always go for the kill. "So why didn't you?" Astrid mumbled out loud. She looks around; in stead of just taking a stroll through the woods to set her mind straight, she has walked straight towards the open spot where she released the Night Fury the other day. She sighs and looks at the direction the dragon went. Curiously, again not knowing why she does it, Astrid follows the trail. _Maybe I'll find him,_ she thinks.

A crumbled boulder here, a broken branch there, sometimes even a drag-trail on the ground. The pursue is easy. Eventually Astrid stumbles across a small canyon. It's a dead end; she can't continue. _Great,_ she thinks. _This was a waste of time…_ But just when she turns around, the Night Fury appears. It desperately tries to fly out of the canyon, but it fails and falls down. Startled, Astrid stares at the beast from the edge of the cove. The dragon makes another attempt, but keeps falling down. "I knew it," Astrid says to herself, "you have a flying problem…" But watching the dragon's wings, she can't see any heavy injury. But it's two big green eyes are staring straight at her, and the girl freezes. _Did it hear my voice?_ Astrid wonders. They both stand still, facing one another. The dragon tilts his head slightly.

"Remember me?" Astrid screams. "Or do you see me as just another Viking?" The Night Fury grumbles softly. Astrid isn't sure what that grumble means. Only then her axe is reported missing; she didn't bring it along. She would have if she had known that this situation would occur. The black beast turns around, shooting a fireball at the ground out of irritation. Astrid is reminded of his destructive power. The blast is so powerful that every sign of life on the spot is obliterated, leaving nothing but a singed circle with a diameter of at least one sheep.

The dragon jumps up and flies up again, but right before he can reach the edge he suddenly turns, now heading towards Astrid. Roaring loudly, he flies past the outcrop she is sitting on and falls into the lake at the bottom of the canyon. Astrid falls back in fear. The dragon crawls out of the water and roars angrily, trapped between the walls of stone. Astrid has had enough excitement for today. she scrambles on her feet and takes off, leaving the black dragon alone again.

**A/N ****Reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!**


	3. A Flying Fish

"So, where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?" Gobber asks the group. Astrid herself knows perfectly well what she's done wrong, and she doesn't give anyone else the chance to say it. Detailed and harshly, she reminds herself of her mistakes, which were caused by her mind constantly wandering somewhere near the canyon. Even now she doesn't really pay attention to the conversation as it continues. She keeps thinking about what to do with the Fury. Then, when Hiccup takes his meal from the table, her attention returns. "Where did Hiccup go wrong?" Gobber asks.

"Err, he showed up," Ruffnut states.  
"He didn't get eaten," Tuffnut suggests.  
"He's never where he should be," Astrid says, giving the right answer again. Gobber tells them to live and breath the dragon fighting and puts the Dragon Manual down on the table, expecting them to read it. Outside, thunder is audible. Astrid looks up. _That's it! If it rains, he can't shoot fire at me, _she thinks._ I can come closer to the Fury tonight!_ She immediately starts planning the trip. She will take her axe along, just in case. But maybe it'll trust her more if she shows him some food. A fish or something like that has to be enough.

"You guys read, I'll go kill stuff," Snotlout says while leaving. Chatting among themselves, the others leave too. Hiccup approaches Astrid.  
"So I guess we'll- share?" he asks insecurely, pointing at the Manual.  
"Read it," Astrid answers curtly, leaving as well. Hiccup mumbles something, but Astrid is already too far to hear him.

Some time later, she is back at the canyon. Before climbing down to the bottom of the cove, she gulps and breaths in slowly. Then, she continues. The rain pours down the edges, forming small waterfalls along the walls of the cove. Astrid tries to hear a sound over the rumbling thunder and the pounding rain. But the dragon doesn't show himself. Carrying her axe in one hand, and the fish in the other, she slowly moves away from the safety of the edge. Now the Fury could attack her from anywhere. Astrid turns around quickly, expecting him to stand right behind her. But he isn't. She turns again, scanning the canyon for a sign of life. Then, in the shadows, a figure stands out. _Is that him?_ she wonders. However, a flash of lightning shows her she's looking at a small tree.

Suddenly her axe is snatched from her hand. Snarling loudly, the dragon places his front feet on her shoulders and pushes her against the ground. Two brightly shining eyes glare at her. His growling sounds so much like the thunder, that Astrid cannot make out the difference between the two. He is so close that the raindrops dripping from his snout land on the Viking girl's face. The dragon roars at her. Not knowing what else to do, she holds the fish in front of her face, hoping to protect herself. The dragon sniffs and groans surprised.

"It's for you! See? I- I'm not here to kill you," Astrid says quickly. The dragon seems to understand; he backs off, releasing the Viking girl. Astrid slowly gets up, keeping a watchful eye on the Night Fury. But as she stands up, she slips in the mud and hits her head against a rock. Everything turns black.

Coming back to her senses, Astrid notices that the rain no longer falls down on her. She lies underneath an outcrop of the rocky walls of the canyon, sheltered from the remains of the storm. It is still dark, but the lightning has stopped. She looks around and spots the Night Fury sitting at the edge of the dry space. _Did he drag me here? _Astrid wonders. She takes this chance to inspect the dragon. _He can't fly, but his wings look fine,_ she thinks. Then she sees his tail, from which a fin is missing._ A missing fin, huh? That could be the cause._ The black creature turns his head, realises Astrid has awoken, and takes a distrustful position. Astrid knows what she has to do. She looks around, but can't find what she's looking for.

"Where's the fish?" she asks the dragon. It approaches her, tilting his head, as if it wonders why she asked. Astrid crawls back insecurely until she sits against the stone wall. Then the dragon contracts his stomach and barfs up the fish, or what's left of it. It lands on Astrid's lap. She pulls up her nose. "That's disgusting," she mumbles slowly. The black creature crawls back again, watching the girl closely. "I didn't want it back, I just didn't know you ate it already," she explains, lifting the half-eaten fish by the fin. "Here, you can have it." She throws it back at the dragon. He looks at the fish disappointedly, his pupils widened to more oval shapes. _He looks kind of cute,_ Astrid thinks, slightly smiling. Then the Night Fury opens his mouth, grabs the fish, and tosses it back at the Viking girl expectantly.

"Err, I'm NOT gonna eat that," she says whilst throwing the food back at the black beast. He catches it in mid-air and throws it at her again. And so Astrid and the dragon start a game of tennis with a fish. "No, I'm not- Ugh, stop it! Come on, cut it out, that's gross… Aren't you hungry? Hey!" As the dragon isn't repulsed by the idea of touching the fish, he throws it back faster and faster, which makes it a difficult game for Astrid to play. No longer bothering to catch the fish, she simply hits it with her flat hands. The Fury is now sitting on his hind legs and uses his front legs to hit as well. Then the meat flies so fast that Astrid can't block it or avoid it; the fish hits her right in the face. She falls back, the slimy meat splashing on the ground before her feet. After a short silence, the dragon makes a strange sound, resembling something like laughter.

"Oh, you think that's funny?" Astrid says less amused. The dragon is still snickering, revealing a toothless mouth. "Wait a second… You're toothless? All this time I've been worried about you biting me and you're toothless?!" Noticing the annoyed tone in her voice, the Fury stops laughing and watches her distrustfully. Astrid sighs, partly disappointed, but also relieved. The girl wipes the slimy smudge from her face. Then she chuckles.

"I guess the thing with the fish was kind of funny," she mumbles. Looking up, she sees the dragon standing right in front of her again. His large eyes with now almost square-shaped pupils inspect her.

"I don't need to be afraid of you, right? You didn't eat me when I passed out," Astrid mumbles uncertainly. The Fury looks at the fish in front of the girl, then back at the girl, and smacks his lips a few times. "I- Is that… appetite for me, o- or is it the fish you want?" The Viking asks. Then the dragon opens his mouth, quickly grows his teeth, takes the meat and gobbles it down.

"Heh, heh, n- not as toothless as I thought you were," Astrid stammers. She wants to place her hand between his eyes, with the attention to softly pat him. But she does so too fast, startling the dragon. He immediately snaps at her fingers, missing by an inch. Astrid crawls away quickly while the Fury growls at her and flies away. Astrid puffs a bit, her heart beating rapidly. It takes some time before she can stand up again, her legs being extremely wobbly. _So, he's still aggressive,_ she thinks, clutching her teeth angrily. _I can't trust him… I better get going. It's very late._ She quickly looks for her axe in the dark, trying to ignore the threatening growls coming from up ahead, and hurries out of the cove. She has to head home fast if she still wants to have a good night's sleep before next day's dragon training.

**A/N: ****Reviews are appreciated, critics even more so. Please tell me if you find a flaw or something OOC. Thanks for reading!**

**PS to Sosai: you asked me how often I'd seen the movie, considering the fact my dialogue is dead on. Well, I've officially watched it only once (in a 3D-theater!!! 8D so cool!). But I'm not impressive at all, I cheat: I keep watching parts of it on the internet, until I'm absolutely sure what is said in what situation before writing it down. =3 Also, I found a site with a all the fun quotes from the movie: ****.com/title/tt0892769/quotes**** This helped me a lot with the dialogues. So… that's the answer. ^^; **


	4. Forbidden Friendship

**EDIT: I changed the part where Astrid scolds Hiccup for standing in the way. ****I thought she was overreacting the way I depicted her previously. Sure, she was angry, but she isn't mean. And taking it all out on Hiccup seemed to be unlike her, especially now that she knows what he's capable of. So, she's a little bit more gentle. ^^**

"Hey, you know, I just happened to notice the book had nothing on Night Furies," Hiccup says to Gobber. "Is there, like, another book? Or err, a sequel? Maybe, uh, a little Night Fury pamphlet?" The Nadder shoots a fireball at his axe. _With good reason_, Astrid thinks annoyed. _Why can't he just drop the whole Night Fury case and pay attention?_ Hiccup runs away from the Deadly Nadder. During this training session, the ring is set up like a maze, while the dragon intends to hurt every target it sees. Gobber tells his disciples about the dragon's blind spot, but everyone just runs around, avoiding the Nadder. Everyone except Hiccup.

"He- hey, so err, how does one find a Night Fury?" Hiccup asks. "How do they move when not flying? Do they, eh, hide in trees or dig holes? Maybe, eh, become invisible?"  
"No one's ever met one and lived to tell the tail," Gobber answers quickly and half-heartedly, "now GET IN THERE!" he adds annoyed.  
"I know, I know, but hypothetically," Hiccup mumbles. As Astrid and Snotlout are hiding for the approaching Nadder, Astrid calls for Hiccup's attention.

"Hiccup!" she whispers sternly. "Get down!" The Viking girl peeks around the corner and quickly retreats as the Nadder is still approaching. Quickly she rolls to the other side of the crossing. Snotlout follows silently, but Hiccups messes up and lets the dragon notice him. The dragon jumps upon a wall of the maze, then spots Snotlout and Astrid. Snotlout heroically pushes Astrid aside and throws his hammer at the dragon, missing it by far.

"The sun was in my eye, Astrid," Snotlout quickly says as an excuse for this clumsy mistake while the two of them run away again. But they split up and now Astrid is the only one being chased by the dragon. During the pursue the Nadder topples over all the barriers, making the maze collapse. It gets harder and harder to avoid the beast and it even gets to the point were Astrid has to jump from wall to wall to avoid getting stuck between them. But as she makes another large leap, she finds out too late that there's nothing to land upon, except Hiccup. And he doesn't step aside in time. While she crashes into him, her axe getting stuck in his shield, the Nadder trips and lands on a pile of fallen barriers.

It takes Astrid some time to recover and stand up again. The Nadder has lifted to his feet as well and charges again. Just in time Astrid manages to stand up and pull up her axe, with Hiccups shield still on it, and she hits the Nadder on his head. The dragon retreats, shrieking in pain. Astrid feels terrible; if it had been just her axe, she would've definitely killed the dragon. _But... that's not a bad thing,_ she thinks, trying to make her feelings of guilt disappear. _It's a dragon. I'm supposed to kill it. And if Hiccup had just stepped aside, I would have._

"Is this some kind of a joke to you?" Astrid asks Hiccup angrily. But when she sees his face, sad and regretful, she sighs. She isn't mad at him, she is just stirred up by the adrenaline, and confused by her own emotions. _Besides, Hiccup is not the one who saved a dragon's life. _"You- just start focusing, will you?"  
"I- I- I know. I'm sorry," Hiccup mumbles, standing up. But Astrid doesn't think about him anymore. What she just said, counts as much for herself as it counts for Hiccup. _Figure out which side your on, _she thinks to herself. _Settle this. Today._ And without another word, she leaves the ring.

Some time later, Astrid is back in the canyon, this time with her axe and a shield. _This needs to end_, she thinks. Sighing deeply, she looks around for the dragon. The Night Fury is sleeping, hanging upside down on a tree like a giant bat. Slowly she walks around the lake towards the creature. _Aw, he looks so peaceful, _Astrid thinks, then shakes her head. _No, I have to do it. Maybe if I don't wake him… _If she needs to kill him, this is the best chance she'll ever get. And she knows it. After silently laying her shield down on the ground, she grasps her axe tightly with both hands and sneaks closer.

The dragon inhales slowly and deeply, then sighs with the same leisure. Up until now he hasn't noticed the threat approaching. Astrid breathes without making a sound, and lifts her axe up high. _I have to do this,_ she thinks._ I've got no choice..._ But she can't stand to watch the defenseless opponent. Hesitantly, she closes her eyes. All that she senses, is the dragon's calm grumbles, her own pounding heart and a tiny gust of wind. The dragon sniffs and sneezes, his steady breathing stops. He groans, waking up after a nice little nap.

Astrid swiftly walks away, before the dragon sees her in that threatening pose and attacks her. _Dang, I blew it! _Angrily, she throws her axe aside. Sitting down on a boulder near the bank, with her elbows on her knees and her hands in her hair, she shouts: "Why? Why can't I just do it? It's so easy! I just had to strike. I- I just had to…" Tears start running down her cheeks. All this confusion, the mixed feelings, they are a real pain to deal with. She can hear the softly growling dragon come closer. Astrid, being too afraid to face the beast, picks up a rock and skips it on the water of the lake. As the dragon gives no response, she throws another one. And another one. After a while, Astrid dares to look at the Fury's face. He is just watching the rock skipping, moving his head along with the rock's movement. It looks a lot like he's nodding.

"Aren't you mad at me?" Astrid asks, sniveling. He doesn't look at her, but digs out a rock and takes it in his mouth. Then by hurling his body around, he throws the rock through the air. But his tail swings around as well and pushes Astrid forward, so she falls into the water headfirst. Gasping for air, the Viking girl turns around, watching the dragon look at her apologetically. As the rock he threw plunges down with a large splash, an extra wave of droplets falls down over Astrid.

The Fury groans uncertainly, carefully coming closer. But Astrid starts laughing. Why would she be angry at him? It was an accident, a very silly accident. _And he looks really adorable with those big eyes!_ Astrid gets up and wrings the water from her hair. Then she picks up a rock, big enough to fit in the dragon's paw.

"Here," she says, holding it out to the black creature. "Go on, take it," she adds as the dragon hesitates. Then he sits back and takes the rock between his two front paws. Astrid grabs another one and takes the right position. "Now, throw it like this." She shows how rock skipping works.

The Night Fury watches closely, then imitates the girl. But even before he could throw the rock, it slips from his paw. Clumsily he tries to catch it again, but he loses his balance and falls flat in the water. Once again, Astrid gets wet. She laughs loudly, laying her hand on the dragon's wing. He pulls it back rapidly and looks up, grumbling. Astrid backs of, then sighs and turns her head away. _Still distrustful… It's never going to work. He's a dragon and I'm a Viking. We're born enemies. I can't befriend with him… Ow, what am I doing? I'm hopeless. Look at me, skipping rocks with a dragon. I'm the most pitiful Viking ever! There's no way I can show my face in the village again after-_

Astrid is startled when something scaly touches her arm. The Fury is rubbing his head against her. Amazed, the girl tries again to pet him and holds out her hand. The black dragon softly puts his snout against her palm, purring friendly. _So it IS possible,_ Astrid smiles relieved. The dragon follows her example, showing a toothless grin.

"Heh. So you're Toothless," Astrid chuckles. "I'm Astrid." Toothless snorts indifferently and walks away. Astrid's gaze follows him. She has made up her mind; she will no longer try to become a dragon killer. With the help of Toothless, she's going to find an other way to end this war; a peaceful way.

**A/N Well done, Toothless! You've beaten some sense into that girl! No one cares about you screwing up on rock skipping. I can't do it either. There's nothing wrong with it… Right? =3**

**I apologize for being so late with updating. I was really busy with exams, parties, birthdays, promises I still had to fulfil****l, and the beautiful weather here in Holland isn't helping much either. But now I'm back and ready to write! **

**Please criticize me if you feel like it. I really appreciate people that help me (*secret message to the ones who already have*)(Thanks again, guys! =D). Thanks for reading!**


	5. A New Tail

The day after Astrid befriended with Toothless, she decides to visit him every morning and every midday after dragon training. She brings a sack with a few fishes and her axe, although not to use it against the Fury; she simply brings it along so she can tell her mother that she goes training, and actually make it credible.  
"Morning Toothless!" she yells upon entering the cove. "Breakfast for you! Come and get it!" Toothless comes trotting towards her, licking his lips eagerly. At first he watches Astrid's axe warily, but as Astrid lays it down on the ground, he ignores the weapon.

While he gobbles down the fish, Astrid walks around him and studies him. _Why wouldn't he be able to fly? _She thinks. _His wings look fine, and he seems muscular enough. _It doesn't take her long before she sees the dragon's tail. _Wait a second… Of course! He's missing a tail fin!_ She kneels down beside the tail to take a closer look. _He needs it to stir while up in the air, right? Then he needs to have two tail fins._

Astrid stands up and runs towards a tree nearby. It has large leaves, but those are too small to use. Then she gets another idea. She runs back to the dragon, grabs her axe, returns to the tree and starts peeling off the bark with the blade. As soon as she has a nice big piece of bark, she breaks it loose and brings it to the Night Fury. Toothless has been watching Astrid with confusion.

"What?" she asks him boldly. "I'm not crazy, I'm gonna make you a new tail-fin." Toothless grumbles, still not understanding the human girl. When she approaches him with the bark and her axe, he regards her carefully. Astrid throws the bark on the ground next to the black dragon's tail. Toothless still has some fish to eat, so he lets her be for the moment.

"OK," Astrid says to herself as she inspects the shape of the fin. "I need to cut a little from this side… and over here..." Pressing her axe down on the wood, she cuts out the exact shape of the tail fin. After a few minutes it's done. The Viking girl throws the useless pieces aside and inspects her creation. She nods satisfied, but soon realises the next problem; attaching it to Toothless' tail.

"I'll need rope for that…" she sighs. She places the artificial fin against a big boulder, so she wouldn't have to look for it once she returns. "I'll be back this midday, Toothless," Astrid smiles at the dragon. "Then we'll see if it works. Bye!"

As soon as dragon training was over, Astrid rushes to her home. There she takes a long piece of rope from her father's shed, much more than she thinks she's going to need, just in case, and a small knife from the kitchen. She quickly says goodbye to her mother and lies that she goes to train in the woods. Astrid grabs her axe, which she had left near the door upon entering the house, and heads for the canyon. Once there, she is surprised to see Toothless building a stack of big stones.

"Hey, boy. It's me again," Astrid greets the dragon. Toothless looks at the girl and back at his creation, pride glistening in his big eyes. "That looks great! But you just watch what I am going to make!" Excitedly she goes to get the wooden tail fin she made earlier that day. But it's gone. She quickly looks around and then spots the chunk of bark at the bottom of Toothless' rocky mountain. Sighing, she bends down to grab the wood. Then Toothless starts growling threateningly. Startled, Astrid retreats her hand, and Toothless grumbles satisfied. But as the girl once more tries to get the bark, he snarls at her again. "Fine," Astrid mutters irritated. "I'll make a new one then."

After some time, Astrid has carved out another fin. She pierces the bark with the small knife, and pulls the rope through the holes. Now the fin can be attached to Toothless' tail on two spots. Toothless is still working on his mountain, which had almost become as big as Astrid herself. But he is running out of stones to add to it. "Look, boy? What do you think?" Astrid asks as she holds up the prototype of his new fin. His smells at it insecurely, but then returns his attention to Mount Toothless. Astrid grumbles. _He could show some more interest,_ she thinks.

Walking around the dragon, she sits down next to the tail and attaches the ropes. Now she sees that the bark is not completely straight, but curves a little, as it's shaped like the tree it came from. _Well, it'll do, I guess._ She looks at Toothless' face; he looks at his tail as if he was saying: 'What did you do to me? It looks even worse than before!'

"Don't be so sceptical," Astrid says, patting his tail. "You haven't even tried it yet. Go on, fly!" Groaning hesitantly, the Night Fury stands up and spreads his wings. Astrid backs off to give him some space while he jumps off the ground at rises up in the air. With the first wing beat, it looks like it's working. But his tail is hanging sideways, Toothless being unable to hold it straight. So with the second wing beat he already bends downwards. Roaring loudly, the Fury lands in the lake.

"Humph," Astrid mumbles. "That still needs some altering. I guess tree bark is too stiff." As soon as Toothless was back on the shore, he bit the wooden fin grumpily and tore it off with one yank. "Sorry Toothless," Astrid says guiltily. "It'll be better next time." Slightly tilting his head, the black dragon sighs at the girl. _It looks like he's forgiven me,_ Astrid thinks relieved.

Many more attempts follow. Bark didn't work, so Astrid goes to cloth. It is lighter, but too sloppy. So she takes an old spear of her mother's, cuts it down to smaller twigs, and sews them onto the cloth. Calling this prototype 2, she returns to Toothless. But it turns out she has made the fin too small. Remaking it the right size, Astrid tries again the next day. This time it fits perfectly, and Toothless goes for another try. But during the take-off, the fabric tears apart and the Night Fury crashes again. It is too weak for the force that is put upon it. Besides, Toothless keeps scratching the places where the ropes are knotted around his tail. The rough wires irritate even his scaly skin.

So one night, Astrid sneaks through the town towards Gobber's store. To prevent having to open the squeaky door, she enters through the window. _OK, _she thinks tense, _so far so good. Now, where could it be?_ Searching the drawers and the cabinets she looks for leather.

Astrid finds a shelf with lots of small parts: nails, rings, buckles, bearings, pulleys and screws. _Yeah! A buckle is great. Then I can ditch the ropes. Toothless will like it._ She takes it and continues to search for leather. Then she finds a nice patch. With a pen she quickly draws a sketch of the fin's size on it. _Something like this. Well, it's big enough. Now I only need something to fortify it, to keep it in shape…_

She looks around again, this time searching a wooden or metal rod. She finds some sticks made of metal that are still unused. While she grabs two of them, Astrid accidentally knocks over the others, which push a jar of screws from a shelf and so on. With a tremendous noise everything crashes on the floor. Hastily Astrid tidies up (most of) the mess and leaves the store through the door.

Back at home, she takes a belt, needle and thread from her mother's sewing kit. Until deep in the night she works on the artificial tail fin. The next morning she quickly goes to the canyon. _This time. This time for sure,_ she thinks to herself.

While Toothless munches on his breakfast, Astrid fixes his tail. She has used metal rods this time, strengthening the leather at the beginning and along the tail's spine, like a banner pole. The dragon struggles a bit, but Astrid manages to attach her umpteenth creation. Once he has finished eating, Toothless tests out his new tail. The Night Fury seems to be flying just fine at first; the fin stays in the right shape, at least. But as he turns, the fake fin doesn't turn the same way as the real one, giving the dragon a wrong direction. He turns over and, shrieking loudly, falls down. Again.

"Argh!" Astrid yells out aggravated. "Why do I suck at everything?" She plumps down on the ground, completely run out of ideas. Toothless shakes the dust and mud off his scales and comes to lie down behind her. He knows that the girl is only trying to help, even though nothing works. Astrid sighs, tired of trying. _I need help,_ she finally confesses to herself. _But who can help me? Who can I ask to make a working tail win? But there's no way I can't talk around the fact that it's needed for a dragon… Who will not betray me when I tell about Toothless?_ Then, Astrid slowly lifts her head. There is one person in the village that could help her. A person smart enough to build a slingshot which could actually hit a Night Fury in complete darkness. One boy who just might understand her. _I need __**his**_ _help…_

**A/N****It's been a long time, isn't it? Well, I could make a list of excuses about me being busy, doing 8 different things every day without including eating, sleeping, and hasting to get everywhere in time, but that wouldn't change anything. ^^ SO…****  
Gods, who could it be that Astrid thinks about? XD How would Toothless react upon seeing the scrawny little boy who ruined his tail? Find out, next chapter ^^**


	6. Unexpected

Hiccup just left the observation post, where Gobber has told them the tale of how he lost his hand and leg. As he trudges through the village, heading for his home, he has no idea that he's being followed. Astrid hides herself in the shadows, waiting for the other Vikings to be out of sight. As soon as she sees her chance, she grabs Hiccup's arm and pulls him behind a house. Hiccup yelled, startled by the sudden attack, but Astrid clamps her hand around his mouth. "Shush!" she whispers sternly. "It's me."  
"Oh," Hiccup sighs relieved. "You almost gave me a heart attack."  
"I know, now listen to me." She looks around the corner to check if anyone has seen them. "I need your help, Hiccup."

A silence falls. Hiccup looks at Astrid as if she has eaten a rotten fish and caught some weird disease, now talking rot herself. "You… need my help?" he then repeats slowly.  
"Yes. I know it must be hard to believe," Astrid mumbles, "with all the villagers looking down on you, thinking you're incapable to do anything, that you're just a burden to the village…"  
"Thank you for summing that up," the boy sighs irritated.  
"But I'm serious. I- I don't know how to explain this… there's something I can't do and I think you can help me with. But it's… it's complicated. Just meet me near the big pine tree behind the village at sunrise."

"Err… OK, but, the whole village is surrounded by pine trees. Which one do you mean?" Hiccup wonders uncertainly.  
"The big one, behind the village," Astrid repeats annoyed. "Along the path that goes past Raven Point." With that being said, Astrid heads back to the street, walking back home like nothing happened.

The next morning she stands waiting near the pine tree, with a basket of fish for Toothless beside her. _What takes him so long? s_he wonders impatiently. Pacing up and down, she occasionally glances in the direction of the village. Then she can see Hiccup approaching. He greets her politely, but still looks at her distrustfully. "If this is all some kind of joke, I don't think it's funny," he mumbles, looking at the basket. "What's in there?"  
"Fish," Astrid answers. "Some Icelandic cod and a smoked eel." Hiccup looks at her, his confusion growing with the minute.  
"Can you finally tell me what's going on?"

"OK. Well… Do- Do you remember that Night Fury you said to have shot out of the sky?" Astrid asks nervously.  
"No, I completely forgot about that," Hiccup mumbles sarcastically. "Since everybody's calling me a liar anyway."  
"Well, I believe you." After a silence just like last night, Hiccup snorted, not believing that he almost fell for it. "No, really!" Astrid said upset. "Remember that dragon that flew away when you found me in the forest? That was the Fury! I- I freed it before you would find it."

"I've got some questions. First: You are really not just teasing me?" Hiccup asks. Astrid nods. "OK. Then: why would you set a dragon free?"  
"I… don't know," Astrid answers insecurely. "I guess I was jealous at you. I'm sorry for that."  
"B- But you saw it, right? You can tell the others that I'm right! That will fix everything!" Hiccup yells excitedly. Astrid shakes her head.  
"No, I can't. Sorry, but I can't tell anybody about the Fury. Don't ask me why, because you won't believe me when I tell you. I'll have to show you. So let's go."

Without another word, Astrid picks up the basket and heads out, Hiccup following her. On the way he keeps asking more questions, slowly figuring out that the fish is to feed the dragon, and that Astrid has befriended him. As he found it out himself, Astrid finds it a lot easier to explain things. She tells him what has happened since she had freed Toothless. She also tells Hiccup that he is needed to fix Toothless' tail. Hiccup constantly repeats that he thinks she is crazy, but he doesn't stop following her. _If he'd just see that Toothless can be trusted. Than he'd know that we don't have to fight the dragons._

Once they reached the canyon, Astrid turns to face him. "Did you bring any weapons?" she asks.  
"Of course. I've always got a knife on me- hey!" Hiccup yells. Astrid has taken the knife and throws it into the shrubs.  
"He won't like it. Come on." Astrid pushes Hiccup through the passage down to the bottom of the canyon. He protests, feeling even more vulnerable now, but he stands no chance against Astrid. Once they stand near the lake, Astrid tells him to be calm and not to move. Then she calls for Toothless.

As the Fury appears, both the dragon and the Viking boy are startled. Hiccup stares at the beast in awe. Toothless approaches, growling ominously. "Easy, Toothless. He's a friend," Astrid says, approaching the dragon and patting him on his head. "Hiccup is not here to hurt you. He's here to help you."  
"I haven't agreed to that yet," Hiccup says, still feeling very uncomfortable around the black beast.  
"But he's really nice, see? I can pet him all I want, and he just ignores me." Astrid demonstrated. She opens the basket and held a cod at the dragon. But he's not interested in food for the moment; he keeps staring at Hiccup, his pupils as thin as possible.

"Come on. Give him a fish. Show him you mean no harm," Astrid encourages the Viking boy. "He won't bite you. I'll make sure of that." Hiccup carefully comes closer. He takes the eel from the basket and throws it in front of the dragon.

But it has no effect on the dragons behavior. In fact, the opposite happened; Toothless hisses and spreads his wings widely, stepping back from the fish.  
"What? You don't like eel?" Astrid asks, picking it up casually. "I find it delicious. You know, once properly cooked. Oh, it's OK, it's OK." As Toothless still hisses at the fish sacredly, Astrid quickly flings it aside. With that threat out of the way, Toothless starts growling at Hiccup again, even angrier than before.

"Y- You guys just need some time to get to know each other. He's really friendly," Astrid tries, still petting the dragon. She looks up at Hiccup, her expression pleading. "Please understand. He can't fly because you ruined his tail. I've tried to repair it, but I couldn't… I thought you would be able to come up with something."

"S- So…" Hiccup mumbles, a bit taken aback by the silent compliment. "You're telling me, that instead of going back to the village, showing _him_ the others and finally being recognized, I should help him to fly again?"  
"That's about it, yes," Astrid mumbles. It sounds very stupid now that he says it. Hiccup takes another step back.  
"I'm sorry Astrid, but there's just nothing in it for me. Everyone will still think I am a clumsy, weak… talking fishbone," he mumbles.  
"I won't," Astrid mumbles. "Please, Hiccup. He'll die if we- if you, don't help him."  
"I'll have to think about it…" he turns around, picks up the eel and walks away. Astrid quickly says goodbye to Toothless, leaving him with the basket of fish to eat, and following the Viking boy back to the village.

**A/N: ****They're off to a rough start… how is this going to be fixed? Or will Hiccup tell the others about Toothless? Find out next.  
it may take a while before the next chapter is up. Please keep reading. Comments are appreciated!**


	7. An Other Way

Back in the fighting ring, Hiccup is rather absentminded. _He's still considering it,_ Astrid thinks, inconspicuously keeping an eye on the boy. _But at least he didn't tell anybody yet._ Astrid doesn't pay much attention to the lesson herself, until Gobber opens the Zippleback's cage. Then she suddenly realizes that she's teamed up with Ruffnut, holding a bucket of water, and supposed to find an angry dragon lurking in the dust cloud that surrounds. The same goes for Hiccup, who's teamed up with Fishlegs.  
Astrid and Ruffnut circle around back to back, waiting for the dragon to strike. A sudden splash of water startles them.

"Hey! It's us, idiots!" Ruffnut shouts at her brother and Snotlout, who are the ones that threw the water.  
"Your butts are getting bigger. We thought you were the dragon," Tuffnut sniggers.  
"Not that there's anything wrong with a dragonesque figure," Snotlout flirts, but Astrid hits his face with her fist. _Blockhead,_ she thinks. Ruffnut throws her bucket against Tuffnuts head. Astrid grins at the violence, but then Tuffnut is pulled back into the fog. As she hears him scream, she becomes serious again. She scans the cloud for signs of the dragon. But before Astrid can spot the dragon and strike, two tails tackle her, and she drops her bucket.

Just Hiccup and Fishlegs are left standing. Fishlegs manages to throw his water at one of the dragon's heads, but it's the gas-breathing one, so it's of no use. As he flees, Hiccup spots the other head, the fire-breathing one, and throws his water up at it. He fails pathetically. Now no one has any water left, and the dragon can still breath fire. Hiccup, being the one standing closest to the Zippleback, is most in danger. As the dragon snarls, breaths gas into the air and threatens to light it, Hiccup falls back.

_O no! _Astrid thinks, advancing a step. Gobber calls out for Hiccup and runs towards him as well. But both of them stop in their tracks when the dragon starts backing off. Hiccup stands up and threatens the dragon by waving his arms at it, forcing it backward.  
"That's- That's right. Back! Into your cage! Now think about what you've done," he orders the dragon as he closes the heavy cage doors behind the beast. Astrid's mouth falls open. _How Is that possible?_ She wonders. Hiccup turns around and faces the other teens, al staring at him in awe.

"OK. So, are we done? 'Cause, I've got some things I need to, eh…" Nobody answers. Hiccups walks towards the exit. "Yup. I'll eh… See- See you tomorrow!" Astrid regards him while he runs away. _What is he going to do? Wait._ She looks at the other teens. No one seems to pay attention to her. No one noticed that she almost went to Hiccup's rescue either. They are all flabbergasted. Gobber included.

"Great… I, guess you should all follow Hiccups example. Whatever he just did," Gobber mumbles, heading for the cage to lock it up tightly.  
"Yeah… Just what _did_ he do?" Tuffnut asks. The group can't talk about anything else as they leave the ring. Astrid slowly separates herself from the group, until she's out of sight, and goes to find the Viking boy. But he isn't at his home, not in Gobber's store, not anywhere in the village. _Where is he?_ Astrid keeps wondering desperately.

Later that day, after an hour of searching, she heads for the canyon to greet Toothless as she does every day. She still thinks about Hiccup, and where he could be. _He wouldn't be stupid enough to be in the canyon without me, would he? _ Still, she carries a ray of hope . She really needs to talk to him.

And fortunately, Hiccup _is_ there. Unfortunately, Toothless knows that as well.

The Night Fury has chased the boy into a crack in the wall where the dragon couldn't come. Toothless angrily scratches at the rock, but doesn't succeed in reaching Hiccup.  
"Please, stop! I'm here to help! I'm sorry about your tail!" Hiccup yells.  
"Toothless, knock it off!" Astrid shouts as she rushes to pull the dragon back. "Hiccup, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hiccup mumbles as he crawls back out of his hiding spot. "It was a close call, but he didn't hit me."  
"What happened? What are you doing here?" Astrid asks, trying to hold Toothless back.  
"I tried to get closer while he was sleeping. I guess I startled him," Hiccup tells, still keeping an eye on the dragon. "And I came here, because I wanted to measure the size of his tail fin."

"Wait, you mean…" Astrid started delighted. Hiccup nodded as he took out his note book.  
"You were right. There are other ways to stop these things. I noticed that in the ring earlier, and I'd like to give this a shot."  
"Now that you're talking about it, _how_ did you do that?" Astrid asks in confusion. Hiccup smiles and says:  
"I still had the eel underneath my vest." It's enough for Astrid to understand exactly what happened.

They laugh together. Toothless grunts, reminding the two humans of his presence and his lack of food. While Astrid distracts him with the fish, Hiccup makes notes of the size, shape and mobility of the dragon's remaining tail fin. Once he's finished, he runs off again, promising Astrid he'd be finished next morning and he'll meet her here. Toothless snorts as he sees Hiccup leave. Astrid pets him on his neck, a smile adorning her face. _Things are going to change…_

Next morning, Astrid finds Hiccup waiting near the entrance of the canyon, holding a large contraption that looks very professional.  
"Good morning," he says excited. "I've been working all night on this. I hope it works."  
"It looks better than anything I've tried up until now," Astrid mumbles, partially impressed, partially jealous. Together they head down to the cove. Astrid calls Toothless, who's not too happy to see Hiccup with her again.

"Look, Toothless. Hiccup made you this," she says, showing the new tail fin to the Night Fury. "Looks better than my last one, doesn't it?" Toothless grumbles indifferently, turns around and leaves. "Hey! Where do you think you're going? You won't get breakfast if you don't try it." She picks up the sack full of sheep meat she had taken this time, and threatens to leave. The dragon moans upset, looks from Hiccup, to the sack of meat, and back to Hiccup. Then he growls annoyed and comes walking back.

Attaching the fin is more of a hassle than before. Toothless has lost faith in the tryouts. So Astrid has to keep petting him, keep his focus on the food instead of the boy, so Hiccup can attach the buckles.  
"Good boy, Toothless," Astrid repeats over and over again, slowly moving along Toothless' back, going underneath the wing, but never letting her hands off his scaly hide. When she stands next to his hind legs, she quietly asks Hiccup: "How is it going?"  
"I guess this could work," Hiccup answered, inspecting his creation one last time. "But we'll have to try it out to be– whoaaa!"  
"AAAH!"

**A/N: That's it fo****r now. I'll let you guess three times what just happened… XD Hope you like it. Happy new year, by the way!**


	8. See You Tomorrow

While Astrid clings to the spiky scales on Toothless' back, Hiccup is carried along on his tail. Both of them are screaming the longs out of their chests, as Toothless gains more and more altitude. But after a few seconds, Toothless starts yet another crash landing; the tail doesn't work.  
"Hiccup! Do something!" Astrid yells as she sees the ground heading towards them. All of a sudden, right before they hit the rocks, Toothless turns upward and starts ascending again.

The strong wind and Toothless' sudden movements almost knock Astrid of his back. She manages to pull herself up, to throw her leg over the Night Fury's back. But she's positioned the wrong way around between his two pair of wings, facing Hiccup. She sees that he is holding the tail fin open. "Oh my… It's working!" he yells, and he turns de fin sideways, forcing Toothless to make a turn. The sudden change of direction again Astrid hold on to the long scales. But Hiccup is right; it _is_ working. The dragon descends back into the canyon and hovers over the water.

"Woohoo!" Astrid yells in glee. "You're flying again, Toothless!" she says, looking around to see the dragon's happy face.  
"Yes! Yes, I did it!" Hiccup shouts happily. Toothless looks around at him annoyed. With a sudden turn of his body, he flings the boy off his tail. Hiccup lands in the lake, but not very softly. And because the fin is released, it folds up, so it doesn't work anymore. Astrid, who's still on the dragon's back, tries to climb along the tail to reach it, but she's too late. Together with the dragon, she hits the water, causing a big splash.

When Astrid emerges again, gasping for air, she hears Hiccup cheering. "What are you so happy about. Eventually it didn't work," she grumbles while swimming towards the lake's edge.  
"No, it did!" Hiccup says, following her out of the water. "Didn't you see? The only thing is that it needs to be controlled. Someone has to help him open the fin when it needs to be opened."

"Oh, so all that's needed is someone who's willing to fly along on his tail all day to direct the fin? Sure! That's easy! Everyone would love to do that," Astrid says sarcastically. Toothless, who has reached dry land as well, shakes the water off his wings and growls annoyed. Hiccup raises a finger and says:  
"Maybe not on his tail, but on his back is certainly possible. I can make you a saddle!"

Astrid thinks about it. _Me, riding on Toothless? _A grin appears on her face. _That would be awesome!_ But before she could say anything, Hiccup is already running off. "I'll be working on it this midday. See you at dragon training!" And he is gone.

Astrid stands beside Toothless, completely baffled. "He's certainly changed," she thinks out loud. "Look at him, being all enthusiastic, and happy…" Toothless pushes against her shoulder roughly. "What? He's not that bad. You two just need some time to get to know each other." The dragon makes a strange loud noise, something that gives Astrid the message:  
"Like that's ever gonna happen!" The Night Fury walks away and lies down on his favorite, scorched spot by the lake. Astrid rolls her eyes, grabs her things and heads back to the village. _Yippee, dragon training…_

During dragon training, the two teens act like they don't share the secret. When they leave the ring, they mix with the others, so no one would suspect them to leave together. But to avoid standing out is not the hardest part. Both of them, Astrid more than Hiccup, have more trouble attacking the dragon, without hurting it. They can't use the eel trick any time soon. That would draw too much attention. So for the time being, they have to act as if they are seriously trying to knock it out. And since Astrid has always been considered the best, and Hiccup had a major breakthrough the previous time, the others expect a lot from them.

Helping Toothless to fly isn't an easy task either. When Hiccup shows up with the saddle, Toothless almost burns him to a crisp. Only his years of experience in running for his life saved him and his creation. After hours of work, Astrid has finally managed to put the saddle on Toothless' neck, so the second test flight (if the first one could be counted as a real attempt) is on. With the end of the rope attached to the mechanical fin in her hand, Astrid mounts the dragon, and they take off.

Hiccup, watching from the ground on a safe distance, inspects the progress. As they soon find out, they still need to work it. Holding the rope in the hand isn't very useful; if she pulls too hard, she pulls the whole tail into a curve so Toothless instantly has to crash land. And she will need both hands to hold on to the dragon, when it makes such sudden turns.

"Unless you are tied to the saddle," Hiccup mumbles when they talk about it. "Could you take the saddle off again, please?" he asks before even trying to approach the agitated Night Fury. Astrid obeys, but she too has her doubts about Hiccup's new plan. _Tie me to the saddle? _She thinks. _Won't that just be more inconvenient?_ But she says nothing about it as they leave the canyon together.

The next day, he returns with a belt. On each side of it, there's a piece of rope ending with a metal ring. The saddle hasn't been altered very much, except for the addition of two steel hooks. Astrid puts the belt on, mounts the saddle and attaches herself to it by putting the rings through the hooks. _Not inconvenient at all,_ she thinks impressed. Hiccup slips in a small compliment about how it looks on her, but Toothless has already taken off to try again.

Astrid has two attempts at flying today. One more attempt with holding the tail-fin-rope in her hand, which fails again, and after that an attempt with the rope around her foot. This works out much better. They even make it out of the canyon. Hiccup shouts. But then Astrid faces another problem; when Toothless turns, the forces of the wind push so hard that she can't keep her leg in the right position. This results in yet another crash landing in a field of long grass.

Astrid's flight-harness came off when they hit the ground, so she fell a bit further than the dragon. While getting up on her feet, she tries to see things from the bright side. _At least we came further than yesterday._ She walks back through the grass towards the dragon, which moaned loudly.  
"Are you OK, Toothless?" she asks worried, but when she reaches him, he appears to be enjoying himself; he rolls around in the grass, purring and rubbing his head against the lush blades.

"Astrid?" Hiccup calls insecurely from the canyon. Astrid walks through the field towards the edge of the canyon.  
"Hiccup! Get up here! You should see this!" she yells giggling. Moments later, Hiccup joins her in the field, watching the Night Fury rolling about like an overgrown kitten.  
"Wow. This stuff is like… catnip. Only for dragons, so it's actually dragonnip," Hiccup mumbles as he holds a few blades of the long grass in his hand. Astrid laughs about his joke while she watches Toothless. Then she gets an idea.

"You should try it now!" she says. "Petting him, I mean." Hiccup looks at her as if she just proposed him to jump off a cliff. "No, I'm serious," she continues. "Look at him. That stuff distracts him more than anything. I'd bet my axe for it that he won't even notice you touched him." Hesitantly, but knowing that what Astrid says is true, he approaches the dragon, avoiding his flapping wing. With a shaking hand, he swiftly wipes along the dragon's back. As Toothless shows no reaction, he does it again, a little slower this time, until he keeps his hand on the dragons skin with full confidence. An excited grin shows on his face, and he looks at the blades of dragonnip he is holding in his other hand.

"This can work," he mumbles, and he and Astrid exchange a meaningful glance.

**A/N****: isn't it lovely to watch a friendship blossom? –sniff sniff- So things start to work out for the three of them, as Hiccup and Astrid discover more about dragons. Will this help them to deal with dragon training as well? And will they succeed in helping Toothless fly? More of that in the next chapter ;)**


	9. The Rise to the Top

Several weeks pass. Hiccup and Astrid do not only make progress on the quest to Toothless' flight problem. They have also learned a lot more tricks to use during dragon training.

The dragonnip works just as hypnotizing on other dragons as it did on the Night Fury. One time during a training session, Astrid sees her chance and she holds the grass out in front of her. The rushing Gronckle headed towards her immediately stops his wings, crashes to the ground and lands with his nose against her hand, his pupils big and playful. She moves her hand sideways and the Gronckle follows, rolling on his side. The other teens observe with amazement; they think she did that with her bare hands. Only Hiccup and Astrid know the truth, and they both can't contain a little grin.

A few days later, Astrid is pampering Toothless to make him relax while Hiccup makes adjustments with the tail. Unintentionally, she starts scratching him rather than patting. But he likes it very much. She continues to scratch on his neck, while Toothless purrs with content. And with a single scratch underneath his jaw bone, the dragon falls on the ground, completely numb, but still purring. Astrid smiles at Hiccup, knowing they just discovered another trick.

Hiccup is the first to try it out. They are up against a Nadder, and an angry one for that matter. It launches the needles on its tail towards Ruffnut, who just barely avoids them. Then the dragon charges for Hiccup. He drops the mace he was holding, hoping the dragon would see he meant no harm. It does stop, but still eyes him warily. Astrid sees this all happen and decides to distract the dragon, by charging with a loud battle cry. Hiccup quickly begins scratching it's neck, and then underneath its jawbone. Before Astrid could even reach the Nadder, it's already stunned. Astrid quickly grins at him before she acts surprised at Hiccup's new victory.

_I have__ made the right choice, involving Hiccup in the whole Toothless business,_ Astrid figures during one evening meal. _Not only is he smart and creative, he also has the time and measures. _Because Hiccup's father Stoick has to fulfill his role as the tribe's chief and lead the mission to find the dragon's nest in the dense mist of Helheim's Gate, Hiccup is left unsupervised for most of the time. And because he is Gobber's apprentice, he has free access to the smith's shop, and the knowledge of how to use the tools. Both of which Astrid could never acquire, not as long as everything needs to be a secret.

_We__ don't have to worry about dragon training anymore either._ It has become more and more like a game between Hiccup and Astrid of who is the first to get the chance to scare a dragon with an eel or to distract it by letting it chase the sunlight's reflection caused by a steel object. _We've become the absolute best. And that doesn't go unnoticed._ She looks up, watching the crowd surrounding Hiccup at another table. Especially Hiccup has gained a lot of attention from the other villagers, each one of them surprised at his "sudden… not-Hiccupness." He has changed from the greatest nuisance of the village to the most popular Viking of all. For Astrid, it took some time to get used to someone else standing in the spotlight, but she handles it pretty well. _He's happy. He gained everything he ever wanted. And the flying problem is as good as solved as well. So everybody wins. _She smiles as she quietly finishes her meal.

Hiccup and Toothless finally start to appreciate one another. Ever since the dragonnip incident, Toothless has slowly become more tolerant, and Hiccup less distrustful. The two of them now understand that they mean each other no harm. Both Vikings are very satisfied with their results. But their happy life is not going to last much longer. While they are in the canyon, making the last tweaks to Toothless' flying gear, Stoick arrives in the harbor.

Only one ship has survived the attack of the dragons. And it is in bad shape. Holes in the sails, gaps in the railing, parts of the figurehead blackened by ash. By the bad mood Stoick has when he steps ashore, Gobber can see that they have had no success.

"I trust you found the nest, at least," Gobber says.  
"Not even close," Stoick grumbles, walking past him. "I hope you had a little more success than me."  
"Well, if by success you mean that your parenting troubles are over with, than, yes," Gobber smiles. This answer confuses Stoick. And it doesn't help when some other villagers greet him.  
"Congratulations, Stoick!" a woman cheers happily. "Everyone is so relieved."  
"Out with the old and in with the new, right?" a man laughs.  
"The top two is more than anyone would have guessed, eh?" another man says, still full of incredulity.  
"The village is throwing a party to celebrate!" another one announces with a joyful leap in the air.

"Top two- what are they talking about?" Stoick asks puzzled.  
"While you were away, Hiccup climbed up to top of the class," Gobber explains with excitement. "Well, he's just as good as the Astrid girl, and she has always been the top-ranking teen. Who would have thought it, eh? The boy has his way with the beasts."

Stoick almost can't believe it. His son, who could never follow even the simplest orders, who was an omen of disaster as soon as he stepped out of the door, is now a top-class dragon killer. That does sound a bit improbable. But the whole village talks about it, so it has to be true…

"That should be it. Are you ready?" Hiccup asks.  
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Astrid answers, placing her feet in the pedals aside the saddle. Each pedal handled a set of ropes, attached to the tail fin. By using the right combination of foot positions, Astrid should be able to give the fin every shape necessary to fly. Toothless roared excitedly. He was champing with impatience.  
"Okay. Then, good luck you two," Hiccup says, smiling at Astrid, nodding respectfully at Toothless. Toothless nods back at him before he takes off.

Astrid guides Toothless upwards, which goes easily since she has done that before many times. When they reach the same height as the clouds, they fly horizontally, preparing for their first drive with this completed flying gear. "Okay, buddy. We're gonna take this nice and slow." The dragon let out an understanding grumble. "First downwards. That's left down," Astrid mumbles to herself and she pushes her left heel down. As the fin opens correctly, she softly pushes against the saddle, telling Toothless to descend. Close to the surface of the sea she pulls up again, returning the pedal to the standard position.

"So far so good," Astrid smiles, enjoying the flight, but still nervous. "Now we try a left turn." _That's left down, right up. Or was it the other way round?_ she wonders. _Well, only one way to find out. _She pushed her left toes and her right heel down. Toothless stretched his wings, and automatically leaned to the right. _Apparently the other way round. _

Astrid and Toothless keep practicing with turning on the same height for a while. Then they continue with turning while ascending and descending. Slowly but surely, the Viking girl discovers the possibilities of the airspace. Once Toothless is completely confident, they step up the pace and start using the full speed of a Night Fury.

"This is amazing! Woohoo!" She yells to the wind, enjoying the view and the feeling of freedom. Toothless roars with glee. He is completely his old self again, once more capable of everything he has always been capable of.

They have a little break to have some dinner, and after that they stay in the air even after the sun has set behind the sea, continuing in the cover of darkness, flying around the village. "We've done it, buddy! Say, shall we thank Hiccup for everything he did for us? I bet he'd love flying like this too." Toothless looks back at her thoughtfully, rumbling softly. Then he turns his head, his eyes becoming ominous, devilish slits.

**A/N ****O gods, might he be planning something? Sorry for the delay, been busy with other stories (including a HTTYD one-shot! ^^) Thanks for reading!**


	10. Joy Ride

Hiccup runs through the forest. He is still very wary in the dark; a dragon can pluck him from the ground and fly away without him even knowing what hit him. But he has to find Astrid. He has to tell her the news. And since she hasn't returned from her test drive yet, he is getting worried about her as well. She should have been back at the village by now. So he has decided to check out out if they are in the canyon.

When a dragon **does** pluck him from the ground and fly away, Hiccup is scared to death. He drops his torch, watching the flame die out on the ground below him. Yelling loudly, he grabs on to the dragon's claw, so he wouldn't be dropped down. When he finds out it's Toothless, he's still terrified. He hasn't been up in the air since his ride on the Night Fury's tail, and a ride in his claws isn't anything better. Toothless snuffles with laughter as the boy screams.

"Toothless! Stop it! Either lift him up or land somewhere so he can climb up," Astrid commands. Then Toothless flings Hiccup in the air and moves underneath him, so the Viking boy lands on his back behind Astrid. Hiccup's hands look for something to hold on to, but he doesn't get the chance to settle before Toothless makes a dive straight downwards.

"Woaaaaa" Hiccup keeps screaming, holding onto the Night Fury's wing. When they reach the lowest level, just above the tree tops, Toothless spreads his wings, almost knocking Hiccup off.  
"Toothless, what are you doing? You're gonna kill him like this!"  
They fly over the forest until they reach the cliffy shore, and Toothless leans sideways so Hiccup hangs right above Astrid, still clinging onto his wing. Astrid grabs the boy's vest and pulls him down, placing him behind her on the saddle. He thankfully wraps his arms around her, shaking like a leaf. But the joy ride isn't over yet.

Toothless has been dropping alongside the cliff while Hiccup was trying to get onto the saddle. Now he dives full speed into the water, almost drowning the two Vikings. When he emerges again, he flaps his wings with all his power, reaching for the clouds within seconds. "Toothless, knock it out! What's gotten into you?" Astrid yells. She too is getting scared. She couldn't handle him at all. If she interfered in any way, Toothless might lose control as well, causing an even more dangerous situation.

Not only has it been dark the whole time already, now the visibility is close to zero as they soar through the thick white blanket of clouds above the ocean. To make it even worse, Toothless starts spinning in all directions. The two teens lose all sense of direction; they are overthrown by dizziness and nausea, and Toothless shows no sign of stopping.  
"Stop it!" Hiccup gasps. "Please! I get it: you rule! I'm sorry I shot you down. I'm sorry you lost your tail fin. Please, just stop this!"

Immediately Toothless starts flying horizontally. He descends a little more until he flies just below the clouds, so they can see where they're going. _Is it really over?_ Astrid wonders; Toothless flies at a calm speed, looking back at them with friendly eyes. "Don't do that again, will you?" she says sternly to the dragon. "I'm sorry," she then mumbles to Hiccup. "I was so thrilled this afternoon, when the flight went well and all… I wanted to show you as well. But this _useless reptile_ had other plans."  
"I- It- It's O- OK," Hiccup stammers, still shivering from head to toe. "I g-g-g-guess I des- deserved it." After a short silence, he continues: "Besides, you know, as long as he's going slowly, it _is_ pretty cool."

"You… can let go of me now," Astrid says after a short while. Hiccup immediately pulls his hands back, which had been embracing her tightly during the entire trip.  
"Sorry," he speaks just as quick. Astrid felt a little blush on her cheeks. _Luckily it's dark, _she thinks. "Ah! No, I-" Hiccup suddenly starts, because he remembers something. "Astrid, I came to tell you something. We have a big problem. My dad returned from Helheim's Gate, and he heard about dragon training -"

"Isn't that supposed to be a good thing? He must be very proud of you," Astrid interrupts him out of confusion.  
"Yeah, he is, but… Gobber told him that we're at the same level. So my dad is going to arrange a duel to figure out who's the best."  
"A duel?" Astrid repeats, shocked and anxious. _Oh gods… What kind of duel?  
_"Yes. I don't know yet what he's planning, but we will be the only ones in the ring with the dragons. The one who turns out to be the best, will stay in the ring and get to ki-" He casts a glance at Toothless, and then continues whispering: "-will have to kill them."

"Oh no!" the Viking girl yells desperately. "I- We can't-" She is silenced by a sudden dive of Toothless'. He lowers himself until he flies into a fogbank.  
"W- What's happening?" Hiccup asks insecurely. Strange noises echoed through the mist; beside the occasional crash of a wave on the ocean beneath them, the air around them was rumbling, hissing, growling… The Night Fury seems agitated, nervous, almost scared. Astrid attempts to steer him back up, but the dragon refuses to cooperate. He keeps moving to one side, suddenly stopping and moving to the other side, only to move back again. _He's avoiding something…_ Astrid thinks. _But what?_

That question is answered by a Monstrous Nightmare, which appears through the fog to their right.  
"Get down!" Astrid whispers, and she and Hiccup lean forward, as close to Toothless' back as possible. Then, somewhat beneath them to the left, a Zippleback shows up. Then a few Nadders, a Gronckle, and lots of other dragons become visible. They're completely surrounded.

"What's going on?" Hiccup asks, now just as scared as the dragon they're riding on.  
"I don't know," Astrid mumbles, finding it hard to hide the fear in her own voice. "Toothless, can't you get us out of here?" she asks the dragon, softly patting his head. But Toothless shakes off her hand, forced to concentrate on the traffic. Astrid looks around, hoping to find a way out of this mess. Then, she notices that all the dragons were carrying fish, sheep, deer, or any other form of food.

"Looks like they're hauling in their kill," she whispers.  
"What does that make us?" Hiccup asks, now even more terrified. But there is no time for an answer. All the dragons drop down to a lower level in the mist. Hiccup wraps his arms around Astrid's waist again; it's hard to stay on the Night Fury's back while he's soaring past the cliffs. And to fall down now, just above the strong waves of the sea, crashing into the sharp rocks, wouldn't be a very good idea. Astrid doesn't pay attention to him though; she has to react on Toothless' movements in order for them to make it through this deadly maze. _Where are we going?_ She wonders when she gets the chance. _Maybe…_

Soon their destination looms up in the distance: a large mountain with lines of red glowing lava coming from the side. _We're heading straight for it,_ Astrid notices. _Are we gonna crash?_ But she hasn't seen the opening at the base of the mountain, just large enough for several dragons to go through at the same time. They rush inside. Astrid has to pay close attention to help him steer through the rocky crack without bumping into the other dragons, which already seem annoyed enough.

The stream of dragons finally arrives at the centre of the mountain. Here they fly in an up-going spiral above a smoggy pit, from which a weird yellowish light radiates, illuminating the cave. There are small horizontal cliffs everywhere on the walls. Here even more dragons rest, let their wounds heal, or keep their eggs safe and warm. Astrid can barely breath when she realizes her assumptions were true: _We found the nest._

**A/N****- I suddenly realized: I don't know if you guys know this, but it's been my goal since the beginning to keep this story as close to the real deal as possible. It's just a "What-if"-tryout of how the movie could be when starting differently. So up till now, it's been pretty much the same, only with Astrid thrown into the mix. But from this point onwards, my wandering mind couldn't resist making a few… alterations. ^w^ Thanks for reading!**


	11. The Nest

"What my dad wouldn't give to find this…" Hiccup gasps, looking all around him. Astrid is flabbergasted as well. Her eyes scan the walls of the cave as they fly by. There are dragons of all sorts, small and large, young and old, together with dozens of eggs. Suddenly Toothless separates himself from the central spiral of dragons, and lands on one of the rocky plateaus. While the Night Fury hides behind a stone column, Astrid is too curious to stay in one spot. She jumps off the dragon's back and walks towards the edge of the cliff. Toothless softly grabs her skirt with his teeth, but with a slap of her hand, she frees herself and continues. Close to the edge, she kneels and looks down.

"Astrid, what are you doing?" Hiccup mumbles, scared to death. "Let's just get out of here. Astrid?" The Viking girl doesn't listen. She's completely mesmerized by the scene: the incoming dragons, flying in the spiral above the pit, just drop their food down and fly away. _Oh. Nice to know that all of our food has been dumped down a hole._

Knowing that he has no chance of convincing her to get back on the dragon, and still a bit skittish around the unpredictable beast, Hiccup slides off Toothless' back and joins her at the edge of the plateau. But when he watches the scene below, he too is astonished.  
"Wait… They're not eating any of it," he notices. The answer to the unasked question "Why?" is presented to them on a silver platter.

A small, wounded Gronckle flies in. It must have had a hard time to get back to the nest. And all it can add to the probably massive pile of food down there is a single little fish. It drops it down the hole and looks around for a spot to rest and recover. But this donation is answered by a low, rumbling noise. Astrid's first guess is an earthquake, even though that's the least she'd expect to be caused by such a little fish. A second later, within the blink of an eye, a huge dragon head emerges from the yellow smog at the bottom of the pit, and it swallows the Gronckle whole.

"What… is that?" Hiccup asks, while the head lazily lowers back down. But it hesitates, sniffing the air. Suddenly Astrid's instinct tells her that she's in trouble. She grabs Hiccup by his collar, pulls him back towards Toothless and jumps on the shrieking Night Fury's back. But they're too late. With the same speed as it just snatched the Gronckle, the giant dragon locks it's jaws on the outcrop where the three of them are standing. It's large teeth show no difficulty in pulverizing the rock. Toothless and the teens have avoided it by an inch, but with no footing left to stand on, they tumble down the volcano.

Hiccup is the first to reach Toothless and get back on the saddle. Since he has made the flying gear, he knows how it works, but he has no experience. He tries to straighten Toothless so they can catch Astrid, but instead they hit the wall. Astrid lands roughly on the back of a Nadder, who was flying up to escape from the giant dragon's rage, just like all the other ones tried to flee. The Viking girl slides off and barely manages to hang onto a bulging rock.

The giant dragon head slowly closes in on her. It's small eyes are inspecting the little snack hungrily. Astrid's heart beats in her throat as the enormous mouth opens up to grab her. But Toothless doesn't let that happen. He shoots a ball of fire at the lower jaw of the enemy. It takes off its aim, as the teeth sink into a nearby Zippleback instead of the girl. Angrily, the queen dragon swings it's unintended victim away, ready for an assault on the Night Fury.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yells, partially worried for him, partially for herself. She is slipping off the rock, and she can't find better footing. However, her scream is lost in the infuriated roar of the massive dragon, and the terrified shrieks of the others escaping. Hiccup pulls the saddle with all his might, forcing Toothless to turn left and let go of the wall. While they soar past the dragons head, Hiccup takes some time to calm down and focus.

"OK, OK, we- we gotta get out of here," Hiccup stammers. "Where's Astrid?" Toothless looks around, shrieking loudly. Hiccup scans the walls of the nest, looking for a sign of life that doesn't have wings. Then the Night Fury suddenly drops itself. Hiccup clings to the saddle with everything he has, while Toothless falls further down the volcano, heading towards the other side. Then the sulfuric fog clears up, just in time for Hiccup to see Astrid lose her grip entirely.

Behind them, the big dragon makes a wheezing sound. Hiccup recognizes it as the sound Terrible Terrors make when they're about to breath fire. "Hurry!" he yells at Toothless. They rush even further down, after Astrid. Toothless catches up with the Viking girl at the same moment the giant dragon releases its blazing power. The Night Fury is forced to turn upward, away from the fire, out of the volcano.

Up in the sky above the other dragons are flying about like a swarm of startled birds. Hiccup can hardly see a thing. "Oh no… D- Did you get her?" he asks the dragon. Toothless bends down his head. In his claws, he's carefully holding Astrid, who is coughing loudly. The dragon grumbles worriedly.  
"I- ugh, I'm OK. Just, watch whe-here you're going," she wheezes. Hiccup has only heard her voice, but that is enough to ease his nerves.  
"Thank the gods…"

They leave the island as fast as possible, and fly in silence for several minutes, with Hiccup on the saddle and Astrid resting in Toothless' arms. She thinks about the whole situation they were in just now.  
_Almost all the food those dragons bring in, is eaten by that… monster. And if it's not satisfied, it kills _them_ instead. So they have no choice…_

"It controls them," she suddenly says out loud. "Just like in a giant beehive. They're the workers, and that's their queen. No wonder they keep raiding us."  
"My dad will have to know this," Hiccup says.  
"No! No, you can't tell him. He'll- he'll find out about Toothless."  
"Astrid, we can't keep this a secret too! This is the answer to all our problems. If we defeat the queen, then… then the dragons won't have to steal our food. Then we can tame them all, and we'll never have to fight again! Isn't that what you wanted?"

"I know, but… We'll have to think this through carefully." Toothless starts to grumble agitatedly. Astrid raises her hand and pats him on the side of his head, careful not to touch his sensitive spot and make him paralyzed. But the Night Fury doesn't seem able to calm down. He accelerates, hastening towards Berk. Curiously Astrid looks from him to the land in front of them. Several points of light, too big to be from the torches, shine at the place where she thinks the village is. Angry roars and frightful shrieks of dragons become audible.

"There's a night raid," she says. Toothless grumbles again. They're now close enough to see the dragons fly by the light of the fires they have caused. Astrid clenches her fists. "We've got to help them."  
"What are you talking about?" Hiccup answers. "Help the tribe, or the dragons?"

"The dragons, of course! We can't just stand by and watch them become victim of a misunderstanding."  
"Astrid, are you even hearing what you just said? You're going to help them kill our family and friends?"  
"No, you idiot. Just… destroy some of the heavy weaponry. Like you've always done before, right Toothless?" she asks the Night Fury. He grunts excitedly and dives down. But Hiccup protests and steers his tail to move back up. With an angry growl Toothless spins around and gains horizontal level again.

"Hiccup! What are you doing?" Astrid yells.  
"I can't let you two do this. Somebody might get hurt."  
"Then let me on again. We'll drop you off somewhere." Astrid taps on Toothless' paw. He lifts her up so she can climb on his back. "Go on, get back." The Viking girl pushes Hiccup back so she can place her feet into the pedals.

"No, Astrid. That's not- watch out, I can't- Astrid, look out!" Hiccup yells. Toothless roars to get the attention of the two squabbling teens. With no one to steer him away, Toothless has flown straight into a danger zone, where several dragons are wrestling with the Vikings. A Gronckle flies up, not noticing the approaching Night Fury. They collide with it; Astrid and Hiccup are thrown off Toothless' back and both dragons lose control over their flight. One plummets to the ground, while the other makes some more pirouettes before crashing into a house.

**A/N-**** Thaaaaat's trouble… Thanks for reading!**


	12. Fear and Failure

Astrid's ears whistle and her vision is blurry. She tries to get up, which isn't an easy task when you're knees are wobbly and your head is heavy as a boulder. One of the adult Vikings walks up to her, grabs her arm and drags her away. She's put down on a tree stump and as the man looks at her. "Astrid, are you OK?" he asks.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." Astrid looks around and spots Hiccup, a few meters away. He holds his wrist, which is throbbing painfully. Behind him, some other Vikings tackle the Gronckle which has crashed to the ground. _Oh Gods, Toothless!_ She jumps up, searching for the black dragon. Then she sees his wriggling tail sticking out of the closest house.

"Toothless!" She screams, running towards him. Hiccup watches her go, hesitates for a moment, then follows to help. The Night Fury agitatedly shoots a ball of fire to free himself from the pile of wood on top of him. Astrid shields herself from the flying rubble, then climbs up the broken wall to remove some more planks and help the dragon to get up. "You've got to go! Got to get out of here!" she says panicking. Hiccup reaches them, just as the first Viking shouts the Night Fury warning and points at the black devil. Toothless looks at the man and growls threateningly.

"No! You two have to go, now!" Hiccup yells. The two teens push Toothless up so Astrid can step onto the saddle. More Vikings group on the field in front of the house, but with a jump in the air Toothless can avoid them all. He beats his wings, while Astrid sets his artificial tail fin straight. She looks around at Hiccup. He has been blown back by the dragon's take-off, but he looks at her with determination in his eyes.

Their escape seems a success. For one second, is seems like they can make it out of there. That second, Astrid turns her head back in the direction they're heading. The second after that one, she sees the approaching rock sling. And the second after that, everything is lost.

Hiccup sees this happen from the ruins of the house. He smiled during the first second, but his smile disappears during the next. As the ropes tangle around the Night Fury, all his hopes sink. He can only watch and listen as Toothless crashes down again with a sorrowful mourn. The adults rush in to keep the beast down. Hiccup rushes forward.

"Astrid? Astrid?" He wants to snake his way through the crowd to get to the girl. But everybody refuses to step aside. One shouts the order to get the chief, and someone else leaves to do it. Nobody pays attention to the small boy trying to get closer to the wrestling dragon.  
"Don't hurt him! He's not dangerous! DON'T hurt him!" Astrid yells to the crowd. When Hiccup finally manages to get up front, he sees that she's caught up in the ropes of the rock sling as well, desperately trying to free herself. Three Vikings are holding the dragon down, one on each wing and one on his body. Another one interrupts the Night Fury's roar by pressing down on his head.

Hiccup tries to pull the men off of Toothless, but it's a poor attempt to solve an already lost cause. Instead, he decides to attack the ropes. Taking out his short knife, he cuts them one by one. Toothless breaks loose his front paw, presses hard on the ground and lifts his body. For a moment, he manages to throw off some of the Vikings holding him, but were one loses his grip, two more dive in to help. Hiccup continues cutting until somebody grabs him by his arm and pulls him away from the dragon. It was Gobber.

"Are you crazy?" the smith asks frantically. "That's freeing the dragon!"  
"I know!" Hiccup yells, pulling his arm loose to continue his job. One more cut and Astrid will be free. Then she can help with untangling Toothless and they might have a chance. But another, stronger hand takes hold of his shoulder. This time, it's his father.  
"What is all this about?" he yells. The bystanders fall silent and watch. As a little bit of peace returns, everybody stares at Stoick. The chief inspects the scene. A black, never before seen dragon held down and tied down, Astrid Hofferson tied up as well, sitting on some sort of saddle, and his son Hiccup trying to free them.

"What is the meaning of this?" Stoick grumbles angrily to him.  
"Dad, please. It's hard to explain, but…" Hiccup stops talking when his father pushes him towards Gobber. There is no time to decide anything now, with the raid still going on.  
"Get him back to the house, and make sure he _stays_ in there," he orders the smith. He turns around to face Astrid. "Get her loose and lock her up somewhere as well."  
"What about the dragon, Stoick?" one of the men holding Toothless down asks tiredly. The chief would almost tell them to slay the beast, but he hesitates. Keeping the Night Fury alive might give them some more information on how to handle its terrible attacks.  
"Put him with the others."

Astrid sighs. She is relieved that Stoick didn't kill Toothless, but she knows that this isn't going to be the end of it. She watches Hiccup being taken away by Gobber, then watches Toothless while she's being cut loose and towed away herself. The Night Fury tries to look at her with his big oval eyes, and moans anxiously. Astrid can't stand the sight, so she turns her head, weeping softly. _This was not supposed to happen._

The Viking dragging her away meets up with Astrid's father, who takes her over and pulls her even more mercilessly. All the way towards their house, he scolds her for the severity of her deeds, but she doesn't pay any attention. _Toothless, I'm so sorry, _she thinks, hoping that somehow, the dragon could hear her thoughts. _I never meant for this to happen. I never wanted you to get hurt._ Astrid's father flings her inside their own house, carries her up the stairs and into her room. After that, he barricades the door and storms back down.

Astrid doesn't even attempt to escape. She sits down on her bed, resting her head on her knees. Outside the shrieks and explosions and battle cries continue. But inside, there is no other sound than Astrid's faltering breath. There is nothing left to do but wait. And she waits for hours. Nobody comes for her, even after the noises of the battle have long ceased.

When someone finally does open the door in a rough manner, Astrid is startled. She has been sleeping for some time now, and hasn't noticed that the morning has come already. But that is not important. For now, all that matters is the chief's verdict. She obeys her father who beckons her to go down the stairs, not even granting her a word. Downstairs, Stoick is already waiting at the dinner table. Her mother watches her for a moment, then gives her own daughter the cold shoulder.

"Sit down," Stoick says coldly. _This really isn't going to be good. _Keeping her gaze on the ground, Astrid despondently grabs the chair and sits down. The others don't join around the table, but keep standing around her. Astrid inhales silently, preparing herself for the verdict.

**A/N- I really pity her ;-; ****She tried so hard, and now it's all wasted. It's done for. Over. Finished. Nothing is ever going to be right again…  
Thanks for reading! ^^**


	13. Clash of the Teens

Hiccup paces to and fro through his living room. His sleep has been short and miserable, and to his surprise, his father hasn't come home at all. He has tried to get out of the house through the back door, but this time Gobber has been smart enough to set a guard over there as well. There is no getting out of this situation. It's all completely messed up. He rubs his left hand again, which completely packed in bandage. His bruised wrist is swollen and painful, but that's just an annoying throb to him now.

_I never wanted this, _Hiccup thinks, walking round and round in circles. _How am I going to explain that? All I wanted was to be a good dragon killer, to make dad proud. To show the village that I was not just some disaster. But then Astrid…_ Realization strikes him. Everything has suddenly become clear. _That is exactly how I can explain it! _

The door slams open. Hiccup looks around as his father comes in, stumping angrily. Stoick is furious, yet he tries to restrain his anger. "Dad?" Hiccup asks carefully.  
"We had a deal!" Stoick yells.  
"I know, we did, but that- that was before I – Astrid-" Hiccup stammers, but his father interrupts him again.  
"So everything in the ring, you learned from her? A trick? A lie?"  
"I know, I should have told someone, before now. It's just, I- It seemed to work fine, and, and Astrid was really sure about it."  
"You two brought that creature dangerously close to us! Think of the people you almost killed!"

"He's not that dangerous, he's… The dragon is just protecting himself. And the others- They raid us because they have to. There's, something else on their island, dad. It's, It's a dragon like -"  
"Their island? So you've been to the nest?" Stoick asks, approaching his son.  
"Yes, w- I didn't find it myself… Toothless did, the Night Fury, did. He brought us to the island."

A silence ensues. Stoick thinks about these words, and Hiccup takes this chance to warn him again. "But dad, you've got to be careful. You don't know what you're up against. It's like nothing you've ever seen. It's huge and fast as lightning and -" Stoick pushes him aside and stalks back to the door, paying no attention to him. Hiccup walks after him, trying to stop him by grabbing his arm. "Dad, listen to me. You can't win this one that easily. Dad!"

"Stop!" the chief yells. "You've done enough already. You've thrown your lot in with them." Hiccup's heart sinks. He thought that telling his father about the nest would clear his anger, but that hasn't helped at all.  
"What? No, I- Astrid asked me to -"  
"It doesn't matter, who told you to do it! You did it. You're not a Viking… You're not my son." Those words crash down upon Hiccup so painfully that he sinks through his knees. His father, who has already turned his back on him, doesn't even bother closing the door. Hiccup watches the chief as he walks down the hill. "Ready the ships!" he orders Gobber, who follows like a shadow, without casting a single glance at Hiccup.

Hiccup sits on the floor for a long time, not even warmed by the sunlight shining through the door opening. His father's words still ring through his ears. _You're not my son…_ It stings every time he thinks about it, yet he can't brush it aside. He's lost his father. There is nothing he could do to make things right again, ever. He's probably going to be the village's black sheep for the rest of his life. Kids of now and later are going to pester him, calling him the traitor, the non-Viking, the dragon-lover. He is never going to be allowed close to a dragon again, if there were still going to be dragons after Stoick's attack. Even so, he will have nothing to do, doomed to be taunted by the tribe for all time.

He is pulled out of his thoughts because a shadow blocks the light from the door. He looks up, but not fast enough to avoid the slap in the face.  
"You son of a half-troll! How could you tell him?" Astrid cries out loud. She has been listening to their conversation behind the wall, out of Gobber's or any Viking's sight. Hiccup stands up, staring furiously at her.  
"You're angry?" he grumbled. "_You_ are angry? You've got nothing to be -"  
"You realize your dad is going to stop at nothing to get to the Nest? He'll force Toothless to show the way! He'll kill all dragons on his path! He'll try to battle that big dragon!"

"That's all you care about, isn't it? You even worry about that- Green Death Dragon!" Hiccup yells back.  
"Of course I don't! I care about all the lives he's going to put in danger! All because of you!" She bashes her fist against his chest, an expected move, but still a strong hit. Hiccup coughs the pain away  
"Me! This is all YOUR fault!" He pushes against her shoulder, first with little result, but with every sentence and every push, Astrid is forced further back, until her back hits the wall. "You saved that dragon! You tamed it to be your pet! You wanted to fix his tail! You got me into this! Thanks to YOU," he said loudly to stop Astrid from cutting him off, "I lost my father's trust, and the trust of the tribe! So I want _nothing_ to do with you and your dragon-hugging insanity anymore!"

Without another word, the Viking boy storms out of his own house. Astrid is left standing against the wall, fallen silent by Hiccup's outburst. She softly places her hand on her shoulder, which actually hurts after that barrage. She's still angry at Hiccup. On the other hand, he's right about that. She's the one who has brought this on them. She's the one to blame for everything. By making that clear, Hiccup has stumped his foot down on the remains of her hope on having a happy ending, and squashed them firmly by rubbing on them afterward.

Another tear rolls down her cheek. She wipes it away. _I did this,_ she thinks. Not wanting anybody from the village to see her, she quickly leaves the house. Outside, she looks down the hill and sees Hiccup stride away angrily, trying to ignore Snotlout's and Tuffnut's bullying. The other teens must have heard of last night's disaster by now. _I wonder what they know about me. What they think of me now… _Astrid swallows the upcoming tears and makes her way to the forest.

**A/N- That's where it ends. Or is it?**** Everything is pretty screwed up, eh? Find out how'll they cope with this in the next chapter! =D Thanks for reading!**


	14. Ready the Troops

Hiccup semi-unintentionally makes his way to the docks. High up on the bridge's outlook point, he regards the other Vikings as they ready the ships. Big charts with weapons and materials for catapults are loaded onto the dozens of vessels. Every Viking able of killing will join the journey this time, as there is no need to keep anyone back home and protect the village.

As Astrid has predicted, Toothless is being prepared for transport as well. They have managed to pin the dragon down on a wooden plank with two iron bars and a thick wooden block around his neck, attached to the plank with three strong iron chains. As they lift him upon one of the ships, the Night Fury wriggles and squirms and struggles, but he can't break free. Hiccup feels sorry for him for just a moment, then shakes his head and looks at all the ships. Sure, it's a pity for the dragon, but all those people don't know what they're heading for. They're the ones who need pity.

"Set sail! We head for Helheim's gate!" Hiccup can hear his father call. He spots the chief on the ship Toothless is on as well. Though it is hard to see from a distance, Hiccup thinks that Stoick is looking at him for a moment. The ships leave the dock, heading for the horizon. The winds are favorable, ensuring the Vikings that the gods support them on their journey. Within half an hour, they are all gone.

After the last ship has gone completely out of sight, Hiccup finally leaves the bridge. Walking through the village, he sighs sadly, hoping with all his might that his father and the others will return safely. He's heading for his own house, throw away all the sketches and blueprints of the Night Fury and its tailfin and saddle.

Then he hears chattering from nearby. It's the other teens. Not in the mood to be pestered any more than he's already been, he hides behind some barrels. Trying to be as silent as possible, he watches and listens as they pass by.

"I still can't believe it, you know. The top two dragon killers of our class, and they were cheating! I guess that makes me the new top dragon killer," Snotlout says proudly.  
"Well, it's not really cheating what they did," Fishlegs mumbles. "I heard they used their Night Fury to learn about all sorts of non-fatal weaknesses and -"  
"Yeah, that's great, if there's a chance that it would work," Tuffnut grumbles sarcastically, pushing Fishlegs aside. Ruffnut snickers.  
"But it's so useless. Why would you spare the monsters if you can just kill them?" she says.

The others agree with her point of view, but Hiccup realizes that he thinks differently about it. _Why? Because they deserve that chance. They're not so bad once you get to know them. _He suddenly remembers Toothless, the way the dragon has nodded before taking off with Astrid on their test flight. _He really knew I had helped him. And he really thanked me,_ Hiccup thinks. A new image comes to him, one of the tied down Toothless, helplessly watching as the Vikings attack the nest, and awaken the Green Death.

Suddenly a roar sounds through the air, coming from the battle ring. The other teens look up excitedly and run off towards it. Hiccup quickly runs after them. Tuffnut is the first to spot him.  
"Look at that, it's screw-up-boy!" he laughs. Hiccup easily ignores this poor insult.  
"Hey, if you're here, then the one over there is probably Astrid!" Snotlout says hopefully.

"Oh," Tuffnut mumbles seriously. "If that's so, then it's our duty to kick her out, right?" The others agree, some of them less happy about that than others.  
"What do you mean?" Hiccup asks, confused about the comment. The dragon shrieks again and the Viking kids can see a ball of fire being shot in the air through the chains covering the battle ring.  
"You haven't heard?" Fishlegs asks, puffing in his attempt to keep up with the rest. "Astrid got banned from the village."

Hiccup is shocked and stops running for a while. Banishment is a terrible punishment, even for what Astrid can be accused, and especially for someone of her age. _No wonder she was so angry at me. Compared to that, I got away with it lightly, _he thinks. Hiccup quickens his pace to move past the others.

As they reach the battle ring, they look down into the pit and see Astrid, standing alone, facing the growling Monstrous Nightmare. "Astrid, what are you doing!" Hiccup shouts worriedly. The Nightmare looks up at him and shrieks threateningly, but Astrid grabs its neck and calms it down. The others gasp with amazement, but Hiccup runs down, opens the gate and heads inside. Some meters away from Astrid, he halts, discovering that he doesn't know what to say to her at all.

Astrid, with her hands still around the Nightmares neck, scratching it softly, looks at Hiccup. She knows that her eyes look puffy and red, but she doesn't care.  
"Will you just hear me out for one minute before telling me I'm crazy again?" she asks, still angry at Hiccup for yelling at her. "I'm angry at you and you apparently hate me very much, but we both want the same thing. We both want to help the Vikings in battling the Green Death, and recover the things we lost. You want your father's approval, the village's faith, and I- I want… " Unable to say the words out loud, she turns away, taking the Nightmare with her. She heads for the crates containing the training material, looking for some rope.

"I heard just now, Astrid. I didn't know before. You should have told me you lost the right to even be in the village," Hiccup says apologetically. Astrid looks at him again and shakes her head.  
"You think I care about that? I've lost something worse. I've lost my two best friends." A silence falls as she attaches the rope to the horns of the Nightmare. Hiccup fails to say anything more than Astrid's name. So, after some time, she continues insecurely: "One of them can still be saved, so I'm going after him. It, would be really nice if… if my other best friend would join me."

Hiccup smiles. It doesn't take him a single thought to decide. That's the least he could do. Just when he is about to tell her, he's interrupted by Tuffnut. "Hey, dragon dorks." They both look around, to see the other four teens lined up. "Knowing you two, you guys are planning on doing something stupid."  
"Nah, we've already done that," Hiccup says casually, looking at Astrid and back at the others. "We're going to do something crazy."

Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut and Snotlout look at each other for several moments. Astrid and Hiccup await their verdict. Slowly, they all start grinning. Snotlout takes a step forward. "Then you can count us in too!"  
"So, how does this work?" Fishlegs asks, all wound up and pointing at the Nightmare. Hiccup starts opening the cages of the other dragons, one by one. Just for good measure they set the Terrible Terror free, while the Zippleback, the Gronckle and the Nadder are kept with them as rides. Giving the other teens a crash course in dragon control, Hiccup and Astrid show them how to maneuver through the air on the Monstrous Nightmare. Everybody gets their shield and weapon, chooses a dragon and takes off, heading for Helheim's Gate.

"Hang on, Toothless," Hiccup can hear Astrid murmur to the wind, as he's sitting behind her on the Monstrous Nightmare. He places a hand on her shoulder.  
"We'll get there in time," he says. "I'm sure of that." Astrid looks back at him and smiles.

**A/N- Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Kiss! Oh, er… *cough cough* not yet, but **_**maybe**_** later… X3  
So Hiccup and Astrid have rounded up all the teens and are heading for the battle. Will they make it in time? How will Stoick react to seeing them? How are they going to defeat the Green Death? Again, **_**maybe,**_** in the next chapter ^^ Thanks for reading! **


	15. Operation Annoy and Rescue

It takes the others some time to get used to flying, but once they are well adjusted to their dragons, they soar enthusiastically. Ruffnut and Tuffnut even start doing air stunts with their Zippleback. Astrid doesn't really like that they're goofing about at such an important time, but she's patient with them. She felt the same when she flew successfully with Toothless for the first time.

"OK guys, enough fun! Pay attention!" she yells once the mist of Helheim's Gate comes in sight. "Once we fly through the mist, the dragons can find the Nest on their own. Don't try to help them with steering, or you'll crash into the cliffs."  
"C- Cliffs?" Fishlegs repeats. He is riding the Gronckle, and he knows that the loutish dragon might have problems with avoiding things on short notice. But there is no chance to turn back; they fly into the mist bank, waiting for the dragons to react. Suddenly, the Nightmare on which Hiccup and Astrid are riding, dives down and turns sideways. The others follow them, nervously allowing their dragons to pick their own course.

Astrid places her hand on the axe bound to her back. She anxiously tightens her grip, then feels Hiccups hand gently touching hers. "Do you have a plan? For killing that big one, I mean?" he asks. Astrid sighs.  
"I think I do, but Toothless has first priority. I hope the others can distract the Green Death long enough."

Suddenly the Monstrous Nightmare dodges and incoming object. The soft shriek tells Astrid that it's a Terrible Terror. It flies past them, its tiny wings flapping as if its life depends on it. Then other dragons appear through the mist, whole hordes of them, heading straight towards the teens. It's nearly impossible to stay in the air, let alone pass through and head in the opposite direction of all those panicking dragons. Astrid and Hiccup can hear the other teens scream as they face the same problem. "Get out of the way, everyone!" Hiccup yells to the others. "Find some safe footing until the dragons are gone!" Then he pushes Astrid forward, so she guides the Nightmare towards a cliff in front of them. The red dragon locks its talons into the rock, easily hanging on to the side.

They wait, looking at all the terrified dragons fleeing away from the Nest. After a short while, all the dragons have gone or calmed down, resting on the cliffs. When the peace and silence has returned, Astrid yells: "Is everyone all right?"  
"I'm OK!" she hears Fishlegs reply from above her. "Same here," Snotlout yells, flying around the corner with his Nadder. "Us too!" Ruffnut and Tuffnut call from a cliff just out of sight.  
"Alright. Let's conti -"

She's interrupted by the loudest roar she has ever heard. That is unmistakably the roar of the Green Death. Snotlout's Nadder gets startled and shrieks, although its sound is lost in the sound wave of the giant dragon. "Wow! Is that..?" Fishlegs starts, but he's unable to finish his sentence.  
"Yes, that's what we're up against," Astrid says. "We need to hurry! It's probably battling with our parents right now. Let's go!" She pulls the rope on the horns of the Nightmare, turning it away from the rock. Leading the other teens further towards the island, she's even more worried about her Night Fury. _Please let me be there in time. Please…_

The fog clears, more roars meet their ears, and the screams of the Vikings fleeing from the massive beast of destruction become audible too. With one word, Astrid opens the counterattack on the Green Death. The Gronckle, the Nadder and the Monstrous Nightmare all together open their mouths and shoot their fire at the devil. As the queen grumbles in agony, the flying team swerves around it.

"Yeah!" Astrid yells, letting out most of her fear and welcoming this rush of excitement. She looks around. The twin's zippleback moves too close to the Green Death, reminding Astrid of her job as the leader. "Ruff, Tuff! Watch your backs!" Hiccup looks around too, and he sees that the Gronckle is getting separated from the group.  
"Move, Fishlegs!" he says loudly. Fishlegs immediately obeys, moving closer to the rest. Then Tuffnut starts laughing.  
"Look at us! We're on a dragon!" He waves enthusiastically at the crowd of Vikings looking up at them. "We're on dragons, all of us!"

"Come on, people! Up! Let's move it!" Astrid yells while turning the Nightmare to circle above the giant dragon. _A plan, a plan. I need to look for Toothless, so what can the others do?_ But Hiccup already knows what to do.  
"Fishlegs, break it down," he says, and Fish agrees. He's nervous, but thorough, and starts analyzing the Green Death.  
"Heavily armored skull and tail, made for bashing and crushing. Steer clear of both. Small eyes, Large nostrils… Relies on hearing and smell."

"OK, you need to distract it while I go find my dragon," Astrid says to the others. "Lout, Legs, hang in its blind spot. Make some noise, keep it confused. Ruff, Tuff, find out if it has a shot limit. Make it mad!"  
"Don't worry, we've got it covered!" Snotlout shouts. Fishlegs and the twins agree with him and dive down back to the Green Death. Meanwhile, Astrid and Hiccup ride on the Nightmare, soaring over the ships, which have been set on fire already by the queen dragon. Toothless shrieks frightened when he notices Astrid. She immediately rushes in.

"OK, take the rope and go help the others!" she says to Hiccup as she climbs off the red dragon's back. With a leap and shoulder roll, she lands on the deck besides Toothless, and Hiccup steers the Monstrous Nightmare around to aid the others. "Don't worry, buddy, I'm here. Let's get you out," she says soothingly. The raging flames and crackling wood of the ship make it hard for both of them to stay calm. Astrid pulls off the leather belt around Toothless' mouth, then inspects the lock on the wooden block around his neck. _That shouldn't be too hard, _she thinks with a grin, lifting the axe from her back.

Hiccup flies over the queen dragon's back, and makes the Nightmare shoot its liquid fire at the enemy. The queen roars loudly, seizing its attempts to burn the Zippleback with Ruffnut and Tuffnut on it alive. They have been teasing and taunting the Green Death for a long time, but there seems to be no end to its fire power. Snotlout and Fishlegs have discovered that the dragon doesn't have just two small eyes, but six of them, removing any possible blind spot. They have resorted to flying in circles around its head, making as much noise as possible. That finally seems to work, until their own dragons become dizzy and plummet from the sky, the Gronckle hitting Hiccup's Nightmare in the process. The Nightmare is turned sideways, heading towards the burning ships. At the last moment, Hiccup manages to steer clear of them, landing roughly on the black pebble beach, but safe and sound.

"Hold still, I said!" Astrid orders Toothless, who's scratching away with his paws as she tries to aim for the lock on the wooden block. Then, with one blow, she strikes down and shatters the wood. Toothless can do the rest and breaks the block completely. He happily walks out from underneath the iron bars which held his body in place. "There you go! Alright, let's do this!" Astrid is just about to hop on the Night Fury's back when the mast of the ship breaks loudly. It collapses, releasing a hail of burning bits of charcoal on the Viking girl. She steps back, rubbing the painful spots where her face is hit. But her foot slips into a hole in the deck. She trips and falls over the ship's edge into the water, soon followed by the mast. Too soon.

Whatever air is left in her lungs, is beaten out of them. The weight of the mast pushes her further under water. The Viking girl is unable to swim away before she's pinned down on the sea floor. She turns around and tries to lift the load, but it seems futile. _Oh gods! Not good, not good, not good. _Getting more and more desperate, she claws at the ground underneath her in an attempt to create more space. But her strength fades while her body screams for air. _It's hopeless. I have to breath now. _

_I… _

_I can't…_

**A/N- Can't what?****! Say what you can't do and I'll get you out of that mess! What? You won't? You ignoring me? Oh, you hate me 'cause I gave you such a hard time, is that it? Fine! Drown then! Jeez…  
Thanks for reading! ^^**


	16. Counter Attack

Two shadows dive in and approach Astrid. The bigger one lifts the load from her body, while the smaller one pulls her out of the water. Ones her ears reach the surface and catch up with the sounds of the battle, so does her consciousness. She inhales, coughs up some water, and pulls herself together. She looks up to see Hiccup's soaked face.

"Hiccup… Thanks," she says. Stoick stands behind him, also sopping as he was the one to lift the mast off of Astrid. He nods respectively to her, and she nods back, still catching her breath. Then Toothless jumps in and pushes his face against hers, licking her softly. He looks up at the Green Death in the distance, looks back at Astrid and growls invitingly. "You got it, buddy!" Astrid grins. "Let's do this. Hiccup?" Hiccup looks around at his Monstrous Nightmare, which is done recovering from its crash.  
"I'm with you, Astrid," he says, and he wants to go to his dragon. But his father grabs his hand and stops him.

"Hiccup," he says, "I'm sorry. F- For everything." He looks from his son to Astrid, with the same apologizing glance. Astrid doesn't know what to say and merely jumps onto the saddle, preparing herself for flight.  
"Yeah, me too," Hiccup mumbles to his father. Stoick's attention is taken for a moment by the loudly roaring giant dragon. Then he looks at the two teens again.  
"You don't have to go up there?"  
"We're Vikings. It's an occupational hazard. Isn't that what you always tell us, chief?" Astrid snickers.  
"I'm proud to have you in my tribe, Astrid. And I'm proud," Stoick says to Hiccup, grabbing his son's hand with both his own, "to call you my son."  
"Thanks," Hiccup and Astrid say together. Then Hiccup runs towards his Nightmare and jumps on its back. Astrid takes off with Toothless, and he follows her.

"They're up!" Snotlout notices, whirling around his Nadder to head for the leading two. They are soon joined by the Zippleback with the twins. But Fishlegs' Gronckle lays on the ground, unconscious and belly side up. The poor Viking boy is jammed underneath it. They are dangerously close to the giant dragon's stomping paws.  
"Snot! Get Fishlegs out of there!" Astrid yells. Snotlout nods and heads down.  
"What're _we_ gonna do?" Tuffnut asks. Astrid looks around quickly. The opening in the side of the mountain, where the Green Death has come out of, is big enough for her plan, but it would be easier if they can get in from the top. She looks at the dragon, confirming that the thing has wings._ If I can get it to follow me in the air, this should work out._

"Alright. Ruff and Tuff, get inside the mountain and fill up the central cave with as much Zippleback gas as you can. Don't light it yet! Once you're done, get out of there and give me a sign."  
"I'm on it!" the twins say simultaneously. Then they start bickering about who was on it first, but at least they are heading for the cave. Astrid waits to watch them until they're out of sight, then turns to Hiccup.

"We are going to see if it can use its wings. Let's make it really pissed." While she heads up for the clouds with Toothless, Hiccup stays around and blasts some of the last fire his Nightmare has. Soon he hears the signature shriek of the Night Fury's attack. "OK, that's enough," he says to the Nightmare and they make themselves scarce.

Astrid and Toothless head for the queen dragon with a spectacular dive, shooting the Night Fury's blue fire at the last moment. The force of the blast is enough to completely knock it over. The ground trembles under its enormous weight. The Viking girl slows down, turns around and meets up with Hiccup.  
"Do you think that did it?" he asks. They look at the Green Death, which has finally stretched it wings. With a few strong beats, it gets its feet off the ground.  
"Well, it can fly!" Astrid says. Toothless roars excitedly. The two teens then have to avoid a fire blast aimed for them. The Green Death is really angry, and once up in the air, it can move pretty quickly as well.

"We have to wait for Ruff and Tuff to get out of the mountain," Astrid says. "Come on, boy!" The Night Fury and the Monstrous Nightmare fly side by side along the beach. The Green Death follows them closely, snaps at them frequently and shoots fire every now and then. The Vikings on the beach cheer loudly when they fly by, even though this is not a very cheerful moment. They must dodge the attacks of the giant dragon behind them, as well as the cliffs closing in on them from the front. It's a difficult task. Astrid can't help herself but look around at the mountain every now and then. _What is taking them so long?_

"Astrid!"

The warning is just in time and she and Toothless barely escape from the Green Death's jaws. Toothless shrieks surprised; he kicks his hind legs off against the queen's snout so he can fly away faster. They move underneath a naturally formed stone bridge, whilst the queen simply breaks through it and follows them. Sharp bits of rock tumble through the air towards the two smaller dragons. One hits the Nightmare's tale. It shrieks and tries to keep flying straight, but fails terribly. Just as Hiccup loses his grip and falls off, Toothless swoops down and grabs him. The Nightmare plummets towards the ocean, but manages to cling on to the rocks just in time. The Night Fury continues flying with both teens.

"Wow. T- Thanks, Toothless," Hiccup stammers. Toothless quickly pulls him up and lets him climb on the saddle behind Astrid. Hiccup quickly folds his arms around the Viking girl as they have to avoid another hail of stones.  
"Are you OK?" Astrid asks him. He makes a sound that could mean he's either really nauseous or utterly baffled, but probably means that he'll manage.

A yell and a shriek sound from the rear. Astrid looks around to see the Zippleback with the twins flying closely beside the green death. "We're done!" Ruffnut yells. "You can't see a thing in there anymore!" Tuffnut adds.  
"Great!" Astrid yells back, even though she thinks: _Finally. It's about time. _"Go tell everyone to get as far away from the mountain as possible! OK, Toothless, let's head for the top." Toothless roars and whirls around. The Green Death follows swiftly, pushing the Zippleback aside.

The two dragons rush up along the rocky side of the volcano. With great ease, Astrid and Toothless maneuver past the stone outcrops, even as they cross the cloud line.  
"Wait a second... You're not going to blow this mountain up, are you?" Hiccup asks, clinging on tightly to the Viking girl.  
"You have a better plan? It will take the big one a while before it worms itself through the hole on the top. By that time we will be out through the entrance on the side and light the gas in the chamber."  
It sounds like a solid plan to Hiccup. Yet he can't help but feel that it would not be that simple.

**A/N- We're closing in to the end! Excited yet? I've finished the rough cut of the next chapters, so they will be uploaded pretty soon as well. ^^ Thanks for reading!**


	17. Where Are Hiccup and Astrid?

They reach the top of the mountain, make a wide turn and dive inside. The queen immediately follows, landing roughly on the edges of the volcano opening. They collapse under its weight. Big chunks of rock plummet down after the Night Fury. Toothless evades them all and heads down into the blanket of green gas. Astrid and Hiccup hold their breaths to be sure. The twins haven't lied; they can barely even see the dragon they ride on. Toothless seems to see his surroundings just fine though. He slows down and lands on one of the platforms, close to the largest exit. There they wait.

The queen roars loudly, making the entire mountain shake. But there are no more sounds of rocks falling down. In fact, it was just the roars, and nothing else.  
"It's not following us!" Hiccup yells to Astrid.  
"It has to! If it stays up there, it won't get caught up in the blast. Toothless, can you make it fall?" Astrid asks. Toothless shrieks loudly and takes off again, heading up. As fast as lightning, he launches himself from the mist, turns towards one of the Green Death's paws, and fires at close range. The gas is too far away to be lighted, and it's enough to throw off the giant dragon's footing.

The Green Death snarls and snaps at the Night Fury, but misses. Its giant feet lose their grip and it falls off the edges. Toothless swoops down, the massive body following him closely. The queen dragon shrieks annoyed, and it claws at the Night Fury in an attempt to squash it against the wall.

More cave-ins follow and rocks seem to come from everywhere. The sound of crumbling rock fills the entire volcano. Through the painful hail of stones, Toothless manages to find the side exit. He quickly flies in before they are crushed by a rock or by one of the Green Death's paws. "OK Toothless, let's light up the gas… now!" Astrid yells. She pulls the saddle up to make the Night Fury stop and turn. He grabs hold of a rocky formation, gathers his strength and fires away, back into the volcano.

While the fireball flies towards the center chamber, Astrid looks at wisp of green gas, right in front of her. In fact, the gas is all around them. In the time it took to get the Green Death inside the volcano, the gas had dispersed into the tunnels and other chambers. But she realizes this too late. With more noise than Hiccup and Astrid have ever heard in their lives, the gas explodes.

.

.

Outside of the mountain, the Vikings wait anxiously. With the first explosion, the entire island shakes violently. Soon after that, more and smaller outbursts come from all across the mountain, because other chambers filled with gas are ignited. The openings to the outside shoot roaring flames as the energy escapes. They can hear the agonized shriek of the Green Death before it is drowned out by the noise of the collapsing volcano. Every rock loose enough to be knocked down joins the avalanche, running down the cliffs and knocking over more stones on its path. Some people stand dangerously close, and they hastily retreat before being buried alive.

Stoick holds his breath. Close by he can hear Astrid's mother gasp and call out for her daughter. No one knew the plan, so everybody is shocked by this terrible happening. Nothing will be able to come out of there alive. The Viking chief can only wait for the dust and ash to settle before he can know for sure. But with an explosion that vast, it's hard to avoid jumping to conclusions.

Suddenly a loud roar sounds from the biggest side entrance. The Night Fury bursts from the flames and ash. But it doesn't fly away. With its wings folded around itself, it crashes onto the pebble beach. The Vikings standing in its path quickly move aside. It takes several bounces before it finally slips to a halt. As it stops, it relaxes and sighs mournfully.

Stoicks heart pounds with every step he takes to get to the dragon. When he gets there, he sees that the saddle is empty, scorched to almost nothing. The artificial tail fin is broken off, the metal parts blackened with ash, the leather still smoldering. The dragon itself is barely alive, so there can be no way the children made it. Stoick falls to his knees when he realizes that. His head bows down, his eyes closed, his heart broken.

.

.

Toothless takes a shivering breath, and exhales heavily. He opens his eyes, lifts his head and looks at the crowd gathering around him. He recognizes Stoick, who is sitting right beside him. Toothless remembers how that man and Hiccup saved Astrid from the water. How terrified he was of losing his human buddy. And now, she's gone anyway. Toothless sighs sadly. It has all been for nothing…

Then he becomes aware of his paws, tightly curled around something. Anxiously, he lifts his wing and takes a look.

.

.

Stoick looks up as the dragon moves. It lifts its wing, looking at its paws, where he's holding a human body. "Hiccup!" the chief yells when he recognizes his son. He takes the limb body from the dragon, throws off his helmet and puts his ear against Hiccups chest. It takes a while, but he hears the faint heart beat. Stoick sighs with relieve. "He's alive! You've brought him back alive!" he cries with happiness.

Not everybody can see what happens, but the word spreads quickly through the crowd. All the other Vikings cheer excitedly. All of them, except Astrid's parents. Her mother steps closer to the dragon with a worried expression on her face. "But… where's Astrid?" she asks the Night Fury uncertainly. The dragon gazes at the two Vikings with its bright yellow eyes, glances back at the mountain, or what was left of it, and drops its head with a sorrowful groan. They all know what that means.

Astrid's mother covers her mouth with her hand and starts crying soundlessly. Her husband puts an arm around her shoulders, his own eyes shut to hide his grief. A silence falls as the bystanders learn the news. Nobody knows what to say or do. There _is_ nothing to say or do. Everybody is partially happy that Hiccup is still there, while they also feel sad for Astrid's demise. Everybody liked her. She was the protégée of the village, the most likely teenager to turn into a great dragon killer. And now she saved everyone from the worst thinkable monster, at a high cost.

"Well, at least he's OK," Gobber says gloomily as he approaches Stoick and the unconscious Hiccup. "Or, you know, most of him," he adds and he shows that half of Hiccup's left leg is missing. "That's nothing we can't fix, but we will need to get back to the village, and fast." Stoick nods grimly and looks around. Most of the ships have already sunk, but a few of them seem to be seaworthy still. They wouldn't be fast enough though.

"Err, chief, sir?" Stoick looks back to see the other children lined up. Beside them stand their dragons. He also notices that all around them the other dragons carefully regard the scene. The twin boy, Tuffnut, steps forward and says: "If you need a fast ride back, then this would be your best shot." He points at the dragons behind him. Stoick is unsure about it for a second, but his son needs immediate care, and it worked out fine for the kids while battling the giant dragon. He doesn't have much of a choice.

Stoick takes Hiccup to the Monstrous Nightmare he'd flown during the fight. With some help from the other kids, he mounts the dragon and flies off. Those Vikings who don't fit on the ships, pick out dragons as well. Four men with Gronckles take one of the tattered sails of the broken ships to carry Toothless in. It's made sure that nobody is left behind. Not long after the destruction of the Nest, every dragon and human leaves the island together, to never return. The mass flies and sails away silently, only some of them looking back at the still smoking ruins.

**A/N:**** Only one chapter left after this one… I'm sorry guys, this just seemed the best outcome to me. I'm a sort of kind of fan of bad endings. To those of you out there who suck up this type of drama like as big a sponge as I am, hail all drama-suckers! :D  
To those out there who don't… well… Thanks for reading anyway! ^^; **


	18. Lost Forever

**A/N- The last chapter. Thanks ****to everybody who put this on alert and waited ages for me to upload each new chapter ^^; I must have been a real pain sometimes, but now that it's finished, I hope you all enjoyed it. Thanks for reading! **

When he wakes up, Hiccup's vision is blurry. The only blotches he can see are brown, red and black. As everything becomes clearer, he recognizes his Monstrous Nightmare, sitting beside him, and Toothless, resting on a supporting beam right above his bed. His bright yellow eyes happily look at him.

"Hey, Toothless. And… you," Hiccup mumbles, softly patting the Nightmare's nose. "I haven't named you yet. Let's see… err… " It takes him a while to set his mind straight. "How about Flarewing? Sounds nice?" Flarewing grumbles contently and pushes him with her head. The force knocks him out of his bed. She immediately bends over to apologize. Hiccup snickers and looks around. His laughing stops as he realizes where he is.

"I am in my house," he says slowly and he looks at the two dragons. "Err, you're in my house." Flarewing excitedly flings her tail around, knocking over several objects in the room. She's almost too big to be inside. Toothless growls at her, threatening to attack. Flarewing responds with an agitated snarl. "No! no, Guys! Come on, don't -" Hiccup wanted to stand up, but he can't feel his left foot. In fact, his knee is very sore, but everything beneath that seems absent. His legs are still covered by the blanket. He carefully lifts it up, to see that his left leg is replaced by a wooden pole.

The dragons can feel the tense atmosphere and they regard the young Viking curiously. Toothless jumps off the beam to take a closer look at the peg leg. _OK, so I lost a leg. That's... manageable, _Hiccup thinks, trying to stay calm._ Gobber can still walk with that, so I should be able to do so too_. He grabs the head end of his bed and lifts himself up. He first tries resting part of his weight on the peg leg. Gradually, he takes a few steps, practicing how to balance on the thing. When he trips, Flarewing quickly moves her wing in the way, so he lands softly.

"Thanks Flarewing," Hiccup mumbles dully. _This is going to be harder than I thought._ With his hand on the Nightmare's neck, he limbs over to the front door. He pulls it open, only to be surprised even more; the entire village is run over by dragons. On every rooftop, every road and all over the sky, there are dragons. The large torches have been broken down to serve as feeding bowls and filled with fish. Large beams extend from the buildings to serve as extra perching spots.

"Hello son," Stoick says. He pats Hiccup on his shoulder. "Good to see you back with the living. So, what do you think?" he asks while gesturing at the village. Hiccup doesn't know what to say.  
"Look, it's Hiccup!" one of the villagers yells. Then all of them run towards him enthusiastically, greeting him and asking how he feels. Hiccup is a little overwhelmed with all this attention.  
"Dad, this is… amazing!" Hiccup gasps. "Since when…"

Flarewing butts in with a loud roar as she pushes her face against Hiccup again, this time a little more reserved. Hiccup pets her while the other Vikings laugh.  
"Turns out all we needed was a little more of… well, of this," Stoick says, gesturing at his son. "You've done well, son."

"W- But it wasn't just me. It was Astrid who started all this. Where is she, anyway?" Hiccup asks. The tribe surrenders to an uncomfortable silence. Everybody looks at each other or at the ground. Stoick himself clears his throat and mumbles: "She didn't make it. The Night Fury only managed to save you." Hiccup stares at his father with disbelief, before looking at the black dragon. Toothless, who has been standing in the door opening until now, closes his eyes and walks away, dragging his half-torn tail behind him.

.

.

That afternoon, Hiccup spends all his time with Toothless, sitting on one of the highest hills in the village. Flarewing soon got bored of doing nothing and is now hunting for fish in the ocean. It's just the Night Fury and the boy who grounded him. Hiccup is sure that Toothless is thinking about Astrid too. He absentmindedly watches the other dragons soar through the air.

"I'm sorry, Toothless," Hiccup says after a while. "I could fix the flying gear, but I won't be able to fly it with this." He lifts his wooden leg and twists it a little. Toothless looks down at it too. "And I don't think you'll allow anybody else on your back, would you?" Toothless grumbles affirmatively before staring at the other dragons again.

The silence continues for almost an hour. Toothless lies down and rests his head on his front paws.Hiccup sighs multiple times as he recalls the weeks he spent with Astrid. How she had shown him the Night Fury, how he had called her crazy at the start. How he had struggled with Toothless until they understood and respected each other. How they improved, both in dragon training and in perfecting the flying gear. How they were frustrated together, how they laughed together, how they learned about dragons together and how they learned from and about each other. _It's thanks to her that this is all possible,_ Hiccup thinks. _She changed all of our lives, both dragons and humans. She single-handedly solved our war… _

Suddenly the Night Fury moans in a heart-rending manner. Hiccup tries to swallow his tears away, but without any success. 

"I miss her too…"


End file.
